Rothamsted is an agricultural research station on Rothamsted estate, near Harpenden, in Hertfordshire, England. It forms a major part of the Institute of Arable Crops Research, which is funded by the United Kingdom's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The station's scientists study most aspects of growing crops, including soil management and crop nutrition, plant science, crop protection, molecular biology, and biomathematics related to agriculture. The British agricultural scientist Sir John Lawes, who was born there, founded Rothamsted in 1843. See also Hertfordshire.