Carl John Drake (July 28, 1885— October 2, 1965) was an American

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

. He specialized in the systematics of the Hemiptera apart from applied entomology in the control of crop pests.

Biography

Drake was born in 1885, in Eaglesville,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, where he grew up on a farm. He studied in Seneca County, Heidelberg Academy, Tiffin, before going to Baldwin-Wallace College where he obtained a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Pedantics in 1912. He was introduced to entomology by Herbert Osborn. He then went to Ohio State University receiving an MA in 1914 and a doctorate in 1921. After he graduated from University, he taught zoology in

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, starting from 1913 till 1915. From 1915 to 1922 he taught at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, and in 1922 at Department of Zoology and Entomology at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, where he became the head and also the State Entomologist. In the same place, he served as a head of the Entomology Section of the

Agricultural Experiment Station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with f ...

. His farming background and the knowledge of entomology helped him to solve problems with practical ideas for controlling the

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

s, chinch bugs, Hessian fly, and other insect pests. He suggested late planting to overcome Hessian fly infestations at no cost. From 1938 to 1939 he served on some of the national entomological organizations and was in charge of the Tucara Commission in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He joined the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

where he got a position as Honorary Research Associate. He died in 1965 from untreated diabetes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Carl John American entomologists 20th-century American zoologists 1885 births 1965 deaths Scientists from Ohio