William Robert Horsfall (11 January 1907 - 18 November 1998) was an American entomologist who was a professor of medical entomology at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a specialist on mosquitoes particularly in the genus ''
Aedes''.
Horsfall was born in
Mountain Grove, Missouri to Frank and Margaret Uaulx. His father was president of a college that is now the University of Arkansas at Monticello while his mother served as dean of women there. His brother
James G. Horsfall
James Gordon Horsfall (January 9, 1905 – March 22, 1995) was an American biologist, plant pathologist, and agriculturist. ''The New York Times'' described Horsfall as a "leading plant pathologist." Horsfall served as director of the Connecticu ...
became a plant pathologist of repute. Horsfall graduated from the
University of Arkansas in 1928 and then studied at
Kansas State University
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
, followed by a Ph.D. in
Cornell
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 ...
under
G.W. Herrick. During World War II he commanded the 17th Malaria Survey Unit in the South Pacific and was discharged with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He then worked from the University of Illinois from 1947 until his retirement in 1976. For his teaching he received an Ernest H. Wakefield Citation. He also worked as a consultant for the
World Health Organization. He was elected in 1964 a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
[.]
Among his works was a comprehensive bibliography of medical entomology (which included Russian sources).
References
External links
Biography and memories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsfall, William Robert
1907 births
1998 deaths
American entomologists
Cornell University alumni
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
20th-century American zoologists