Joseph Douglas Hood (28 November 1889 – 22 October 1966) was an American entomologist and a specialist on the

thrips Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

(Thysanoptera). He served as a professor of entomology at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

and at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. Hood was born in

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern ...

to dentist Thomas Henry and Eva Maria Josephine Dickson. Hood was schooled at Irving School and Richard T. Crane High School in Chicago. At the age of eighteen he worked part-time at the

Illinois Natural History Survey The Illinois Natural History Survey (abbreviated as INHS), located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, is an active research institution with over 200 staff members, and it maintains one of the ...

and described a new species of thrips. He received a BA in biological science from the University of Illinois in 1910 followed by a MA from George Washington University in 1913. During the first world war he taught military science and tactics at the University of Illinois (1910–11). Between 1917 and 1920 he served in the US Army. He then went to Cornell University and worked under J. Chester Bradley earning a Ph.D. in 1931. He worked as an instructor from 1922 to 1925 at the University of Rochester and became a full professor in 1928. He moved to Cornell University in 1938 where he became a full professor only in 1948. He retired in 1957 and then worked as an emeritus professor. Hood's students included

Howard Ensign Evans Howard Ensign Evans (February 23, 1919 – July 18, 2002) was an American entomologist who was a specialist on wasps. He was also the author of several popular works on entomology including ''Life on a Little-known Planet'' (1978), ''The Pleasures ...

. Hood made large collections of Thysanoptera, making trips to South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean region. His specimens included 60000 slide mounts of 2117 species of which 1055 were

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

s that he had described. Hood married Helen Madge Hincher, who was dean of women at Ithaca College, in 1930. They had a daughter and a son from an earlier marriage. He died in Ithaca.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Joseph Douglas American entomologists 1889 births 1966 deaths People from Laramie, Wyoming Military personnel from Wyoming Scientists from Wyoming Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty 20th-century American zoologists