History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Herbert Osborne
HERBERT OSBORNE was born at La Fayette, Walworth County, Wisconsin, on the 19th of March, 1856. In June, 1863, the family removed to Fairfax, Iowa, where Herbert attended the district school. He entered the State Agricultural College and graduated; then taught in the country schools from 1875 to 1878. In 1879 he was appointed assistant Professor of Zoology and Entomology at the Agricultural College and was soon promoted to a full professorship and retained the position until 1898. He was the entomologist during this period for the Experimental Station and attained high rank among the entomologists of the nation. Professor Osborne was a frequent contributor to the scientific journals of the country and was the special agent of the Division of Entomology in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. He prepared numerous bulletins on injurious insects for the Department—one on the Hessian fly and others on insects affecting domestic animals—all of which were published in the Department Reports. While Professor at Ames, Mr. Osborne was given leave of absence for a year to accept an appointment to a table in the Biological Station at Naples. He assisted in drafting the bill which became a law providing for a State Entomologist in Iowa and organized the work in that department. He was one of the organizers and always an active member of the Iowa Academy of Sciences and its secretary and treasurer from 1891 to 1898 when he received the appointment of Professor of Entomology in the State University of Ohio and greatly to the regret of the people of Iowa, accepted the position and removed from the State to which he had for many years given valuable service. Long before leaving Iowa Professor Osborne had won a national reputation in the line of his work and was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Biological Society of Washington, D. C.