Browse the Hall of Fame — Chronological Order by Year of Induction
The Hall was established in 1986.

Edward F. Knipling - Inducted 1986

The late Edward F. Knipling was the first inductee into the ARS Science Hall of Fame. He served as director of the Entomology Division in Beltsville, Maryland. Knipling developed an innovative sterile male technique for controlling insect pests in the early 1950s. During that time, insect control strategies relied mostly on chemical pesticides. His method involved releasing sterile male insects into the wild as a way to disrupt insect reproduction. Knipling's pioneering research, which led to screwworm eradication in the United States, landed him a place in ARS history.

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Howard L. Bachrach - Inducted 1987

Howard L. Bachrach worked as chief scientist at the ARS Plum Island Animal Disease Center in Greenport, New York. He made his first significant contribution to the conquest of viral diseases in 1949 with his research on foot-and-mouth disease. It was his research that led to development of the world's first effective subunit vaccine for any disease of animals or humans using gene splicing.

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Myron K. Brakke - Inducted 1987

Myron K. Brakke was a research chemist stationed at what was then the ARS Wheat and Sorghum Research Unit in Lincoln, Nebraska. His invention for separating plant and animal cell components, called density-gradient centrifugation, has had a great and lasting worldwide influence on molecular biology. His research in plant virology earned him a place in the ARS Hall of Fame.

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Glenn W. Burton - Inducted 1987

Glenn W. Burton was inducted into the ARS Hall of Fame for his research achievements in forage and turf science. He worked as a research plant geneticist in the Forage and Turf Research Unit at Tifton, Georgia. Burton developed Coastal bermudagrass--a pasture grass for beef cattle--and solved problems associated with its establishment and management. Coastal bermudagrass has been planted on more than 10 million acres throughout the southern United States.

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Wilson A. Reeves - Inducted 1987

Wilson A. Reeves worked as chief of the Cotton Finishing Laboratory in New Orleans, Louisiana. He developed individually and with other scientists many economically beneficial techniques for making cotton and cotton-blend fabrics flame resistant, flame retardant, wash-and-wear, and durable press. Reeves' research and leadership in the field of textile chemical finishing has significantly benefited agriculture and consumers.

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Ernest R. Sears - Inducted 1987

The late Ernest R. Sears' work in wheat genetics and discoveries of chromosomal mechanisms that established standards in animal, plant, and human genetics secured him a spot in the ARS Hall of Fame. He conducted research that provided essential data about wheat's 21 chromosomes. Sears worked as a research geneticist in the ARS Cereal Genetics Research Unit at Columbia, Missouri.

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Orville A. Vogel - Inducted 1987

The late Orville A. Vogel, a research agronomist formerly in ARS' Wheat Breeding and Production Unit, developed the first useful semidwarf wheats and innovative production systems that made the Pacific Northwest a major source of soft white wheat. His research inspired similar research efforts throughout the world and sparked the Green Revolution.

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Cecil H. Wadleigh - Inducted 1987

Cecil H. Wadleigh was inducted into the ARS Hall of Fame for determining the mechanisms through which crops respond to salinity and water stress. His research provided a substantial part of the information published in USDA's Agriculture Handbook 60, "Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline Soil," the definitive work on this subject since its publication more than 25 years ago. Wadleigh retired from ARS as director of the Soil and Water Conservation Research Division in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Francis E. Clark - Inducted 1988

Microbiologist Francis E. Clark helped determine how microorganisms affect nutrient cycling in plants and soil. His research lead to a greater understanding of soil, plant, and microbial interactions in terrestrial ecosystems. He defined factors affecting nitrate formation and stability in soil, and the role of cropping history and organic matter in controlling nitrogen losses. Clark worked in the ARS Soil, Plant, Nutrient Research Unit at Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Edgar E. Hartwig - Inducted 1988

Edgar E. Hartwig developed new soybean cultivars that helped transform this crop to the second most valuable U.S. crop. Nearly 90 percent of southern soybean acreage is planted with cultivars developed by Hartwig. He worked as a research agronomist in ARS' Soybean Production Research Unit at Stoneville, Mississippi.

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Ralph E. Hodgson - Inducted 1988

The late Ralph E. Hodgson was inducted to the ARS Hall of Fame for significantly contributing to the understanding of production and use of pasture and forages. He was instrumental in modernizing and expanding ARS livestock research. Hodgson served in Beltsville, Maryland, as a National Program Staff scientist for Dairy Production.

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Hamish N. Munro - Inducted 1988

Hamish N. Munro worked as a senior scientist at ARS' Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston, Massachusetts. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his research contributions in nutrition science, particularly on the relationship of dietary protein and iron to the health of the elderly, and for promoting studies on aging.

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José Vicente-Chandler - Inducted 1988

José Vicente-Chandler spearheaded research that led to new and greatly improved production systems for beef, milk, coffee, plantains, and rice for Puerto Rico and Caribbean countries. He retired from ARS, after 43 years of service, as the research leader of the Soil and Water Conservation Research Unit in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.

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Douglas R. Dewey - Inducted 1989

Douglas R. Dewey is recognized as a leading authority on cytogenetics, the study of chromosomes and chromosome abnormality-related diseases; genomic relationships; and taxonomic classification of wheatgrasses, wild ryes and related species. He assembled the world's largest and most diverse collection of perennial species in the grass family subdivision called the Triticeae tribe. Dewey served as research leader of ARS' Forage and Range Research Unit in Logan, Utah, before retiring.

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Theodor O. Diener - Inducted 1989

Theodor O. Diener was inducted into the Hall of Fame for conceptualizing and discovering viroids, for leading research on viroid detection and control, and for inspiring new approaches in the search for causes of several serious diseases affecting plants, livestock, and humans. Diener worked as a research plant pathologist at ARS' Microbiology and Plant Pathology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Karl H. Norris - Inducted 1989

Karl H. Norris served as research leader for ARS' Instrumental Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. He developed principles and instruments using the electromagnetic waves spectrum to make rapid, nondestructive measurements for evaluating the quality of agricultural products. Norris developed near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) as a method for measuring the protein, oil, and moisture content of grain. NIRS has been widely adopted in the world grain marketing system.

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John F. Sullivan - Inducted 1989

John F. Sullivan was inducted into the ARS Hall of Fame for his contributions to the food-processing and preservation industries, including development of instant potato flakes and a batch explosion-puffing system for producing dried, rehydratable fruit and vegetable products. The development of instant potato flakes played an important role in revitalizing the U.S. potato industry. Before retiring, Sullivan worked as a chemical engineer in ARS' Engineering Science Research Unit at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Theodore C. Byerly - Inducted 1990

The late Theodore C. Byerly, a biologist, served as Deputy Administrator of ARS and was stationed in Washington, D.C. He directed research that produced many major advances in poultry science, including discovery of the superiority of selectively bred hybrids in egg and poultry production, and the development of the Beltsville white turkey. He was a founding director and president of the Friends of Agricultural Research, Beltsville (FAR-B).

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Gordon Dickerson - Inducted 1990

Gordon E. Dickerson was a research animal geneticist at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. His concepts and procedures in livestock genetics are widely used by breeders to increase production efficiency of cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry.

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Robert W. Holley - Inducted 1990

Robert W. Holley was inducted into the Hall of Fame for discovering and characterizing a class of low molecular ribonucleic acids known as transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNAs). These act as carriers for specific amino acids during protein synthesis. Holley's research on tRNAs provided the foundation for more recent advances in both plant and animal sciences based on recombinant DNA techniques. Holley worked as a research chemist in the ARS Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory at Ithaca, New York.

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Virgil A. Johnson - Inducted 1990

The late Virgil A. Johnson was a research leader at ARS' Wheat Research Unit in Lincoln, Nebraska. He developed superior bread wheat cultivars and improved wheat germplasm. He co-developed 28 improved wheat cultivars that have set new productivity and performance standards for hard red winter wheat in the United States and in similar wheat-producing countries, such as Turkey and South Africa. These cultivars have occupied as much as 25 percent of the entire U.S. wheat acreage.

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George F. Sprague - Inducted 1990

The late George F. Sprague contributed significantly to the development of methods for identifying and producing superior corn hybrids that are widely considered to be among the greatest plant breeding achievements of the 20th century. Sprague developed Stiff Stalk Synthetic, which became one of the most important germplasm line sources. He retired from ARS as investigations leader of the Corn and Sorghum Investigations Unit in Beltsville, Maryland.

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John H. Weinberger - Inducted 1991

The late John H. Weinberger retired from the Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory in Fresno, California, where he worked as a research horticulturist. He earned a place in the Hall of Fame for his lifelong research contributions to developing fruit varieties and fruit-breeding technology. During his career at ARS, Weinberger developed and released 37 fruit varieties. Flame Seedless, a table grape he released in 1973, is now the second most important seedless grape produced in the United States.

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Walter H. Wischmeier - Inducted 1991

The late Walter H. Wischmeier served as national research investigations leader of ARS' Soil and Water Conservation Research Division in West Lafayette, Indiana. He developed the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), which has been widely used for decades worldwide in natural resource conservation and management. According to the International Soil and Water Conservation Society, USLE is regarded as the "primary tool of conservationists for planning purposes."

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Raymond C. Bushland - Inducted 1992

The late Raymond C. Bushland conducted pioneering research that helped lead to screwworm eradication using the sterile insect technique. His research also helped lead to the control of human body louse, the vector of epidemic typhus. Typhus is particularly a problem among military and civilians in wartime conditions. Before retiring, Bushland worked as a research entomologist with ARS' Screwworm Research Laboratory in Mission, Texas.

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Lyman B. Crittenden - Inducted 1992

Lyman B. Crittenden worked at ARS as research leader of the Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory in East Lansing, Michigan. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his research contributions to retroviral genetics, transgenic animal development, and genome mapping in poultry. He led a 10-year group effort that developed improved methods for detecting and reducing the effects of avian leukosis virus in poultry. He led a program that resulted in development of the first transgenic chickens.

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Arnel R. Hallauer - Inducted 1992

Arnel R. Hallauer played a major role in developing and evaluating more than 30 maize synthetics and 18 inbred lines that were released to the seed industry during his years as leader of the ARS maize breeding research project. His research helped increase the understanding and use of quantitative genetics in plant breeding and has led to the development of many superior corn hybrids worldwide. Hallauer retired from the agency as research leader of ARS' Field Crops Research Unit in Ames, Iowa.

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John R. Gorham - Inducted 1993

John R. Gorham's scientific research has resulted in the solving of animal disease control problems and has advanced the basic knowledge of viral and genetic diseases in humans and animals. He has an international reputation in slow virus diseases, fur animal diseases, and animal models of human genetic diseases. Gorham served as a research leader in the ARS Animal Diseases Research Unit at Pullman, Washington.

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Sterling B. Hendricks - Inducted 1993

Sterling B. Hendricks was posthumously inducted into ARS' Science Hall of Fame for his significant contributions as a chemist, physicist, mathematician, plant physiologist, geologist, and mineralogist. Notably remembered for his work on plant photobiology, he also pioneered the application of radioisotopes to the study of phosphate fertilizer transport and intake into plant roots. He worked at ARS as chief scientist of the Mineral Nutrition Pioneering Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Clair E. Terrill - Inducted 1993

The late Clair E. Terrill was a worldwide leader in sheep production research. He developed a three-pronged strategy for increasing efficiency of meat production from sheep without increasing feed demands: genetically increase the lamb crop, remove low-producing adults at a young age and reduce lamb mortality. He served as National Program Leader for Sheep and Fur Animals Research in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Charles N. Bollich - Inducted 1994

Charles N. Bollich led in the development of 16 rice cultivars, many of which have become driving forces in the United States and a number of Central and South American countries. Bollich's research has contributed significantly to rice breeding and genetics and their consequent benefits to American agriculture. He worked as a research leader at ARS' Rice Research Laboratory in Beaumont, Texas.

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Chester G. McWhorter - Inducted 1994

Chester G. McWhorter worked as a research leader of the ARS Application Technology Research Unit in Stoneville, Mississippi. He earned his place in the Hall of Fame for contributing to American agriculture through basic and applied research that has resulted in improved weed management technology leading to increased yields and reduced production costs. McWhorter's improved weed control technology is now used in the United States on more than 60 million acres annually.

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Malcolm J. Thompson - Inducted 1994

Malcolm J. Thompson is internationally recognized for his contributions to the fields of insect and plant biochemistry. Thompson is notably remembered for his pioneering discoveries with the group of steroid hormones (ecdysteroids) that regulate molting in insects and other invertebrates. He worked as a research chemist at ARS' Insect Neurobiology and Hormone Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Harry Alfred Borthwick - Inducted 1995

Harry Alfred Borthwick spent many years studying and quantifying the photoperiodic mechanisms that control flowering in plants. His studies formed the basis for collaborative research with other scientists that successfully identified and isolated the photoreceptor for day length detection in plants. He worked at ARS' Photoperiod Pioneering Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, and was posthumously inducted into ARS' Science Hall of Fame.

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William M. Doane - Inducted 1995

William M. Doane served as a research leader of the ARS Plant Polymer Research Unit in Peoria, Illinois before retiring. He initiated and conducted research that created new and useful products that ultimately led to the establishment of new industries based on agricultural materials. He initiated a research program that led to discovery and development of Super Slurper, a highly absorbent starch graft polymer. Today, Doane's polymer can be found in many products, including seed coatings, wound dressing and disposable soft goods.

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Walter Mertz, M.D. - Inducted 1995

The late Walter Mertz was an authority in several areas of nutrition. He was one of the world's most prominent research scientists in the area of trace elements in human nutrition. He is best known for discovering that chromium is an essential nutrient involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Mertz promoted research on dietary risk factors for chronic health disorders. He was director of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

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Fred W. Blaisdell - Inducted 1996

The late Fred W. Blaisdell developed improved structures for soil and water conservation. His research has influenced the design of almost every structure used to "drop" flowing water in stream channels. His famous and widely used structure is the Saint Anthony Falls stilling basin, which is used to drop water from one level to another in a water conveyance channel. Blaisdell was a hydraulic engineer in ARS' Hydraulic Engineering Research Unit at Stillwater, Oklahoma.

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Herbert J. Dutton- Inducted 1996

Herbert J. Dutton retired as chief of ARS' Oilseeds Crops Laboratory in Peoria, Illinois. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for research that lead to the establishment of soybean oil as the predominant edible vegetable oil in the world. Largely as a result of his research contributions, soybean oil commands 85 percent of the domestic fats and oils market. His research continues to have an impact on soybean research.

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Charles Jackson Hearn- Inducted 1996

Research geneticist Charles Jackson Hearn worked in ARS' Horticultural and Breeding Research Unit at Orlando, Florida, before retiring from the agency. He developed improved orange, grapefruit, and tangerine varieties used extensively by U.S. citrus producers. Hearn's varieties represent 40 percent of the nursery-propagated grapefruit planted in Florida, 72 percent of the tangerines, and 7 percent of citrus classified as oranges.

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Morton Beroza - Inducted 1997

Morton Beroza has an international reputation for discovering ingenious and inventive tools for controlling insect pests safely within their ecological domain. He developed many environmentally compatible insect control strategies using insect lures, attractants, repellents, and pheromones. Beroza invented analytical techniques and apparatus now used by chemists worldwide. He worked as a chief of ARS' Organic Chemicals Synthesis Laboratory before retiring.

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R. James Cook - Inducted 1997

R. James Cook has inspired an ecological approach to controlling diseases of agricultural crops, particularly wheat and barley. He is recognized worldwide as the leading authority on biological control of plant pathogens. He is the first person to find resistance to both "take all" and Rhizoctonia root rot diseases in a plant closely related to wheat. He served as the research leader of the ARS Root Disease and Biological Control Research Unit in Pullman, Washington.

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William L. Ogren - Inducted 1997

Retired plant physiologist William L. Ogren worked in the ARS Photosynthesis Research Unit at Urbana, Illinois. He is a pioneer in discovering how plants use sunlight. His research on photosynthesis helped to make it a key factor worldwide for crop improvement strategies. He worked as a plant physiologist in the Photosynthesis Research Unit at Urbana, Illinois.

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Thomas J. Henneberry - Inducted 1998

Thomas J. Henneberry is internationally recognized for his work in pest management. His research—on the ecology, biology, and control of cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm, pink bollworm, boll weevil, sweet potato whitefly, and other pests—has resulted in significant contributions to pest management systems worldwide. Henneberry worked as laboratory director of ARS' Western Cotton Research Laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona.

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James H. Tumlinson, III - Inducted 1998

James H. Tumlinson, III, is a pioneer in the discovery of insect pheromones. Before retiring, he served as research leader of the ARS Insect Chemistry Research Unit in Gainesville, Florida. Tumlinson's research led to eradication of the boll weevil from the southeastern United States. He discovered the chemical basis of plant-insect-parasite interaction. He also provided leadership in identifying pheromones from over 40 species in 13 insect families of considerable economic importance.

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Allene R. Jeanes - Inducted 1999

Allene R. Jeanes was posthumously inducted into the ARS Science Hall of Fame for her microbiological, chemical, and engineering research contributions that created urgently needed, life-saving industrial polymers made from agricultural commodities. She and a colleague proposed a project for producing dextran and converting it into synthetic blood plasma. The fluid that resulted from her team's efforts was used on the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam to save countless lives. She worked as a research chemist with ARS' National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.

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Charles W. Stuber - Inducted 1999

Charles W. Stuber was inducted into the Hall of Fame for pioneering the use of molecular markers in identifying, mapping, and manipulating quantitative trait genes. His research stimulated interest in DNA-based marker technology for improving crop traits, led industry giants to revolutionize many of their crop breeding procedures, and influenced animal breeding technology. He worked as a research geneticist and research leader in ARS' Plant Science Research Unit at Raleigh, North Carolina.

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Richard L. Witter - Inducted 1999

Richard L. Witter is a world-renowned authority on avian tumors—particularly Marek's disease, a devastating illness that costs the poultry industry millions every year. His research formed the basis for HVT vaccine, a herpesvirus isolate from turkeys that is used worldwide to help combat Marek's disease. It is estimated that the vaccine has saved the poultry industry more than $100 million each year since it was introduced in 1971. Witter worked as a veterinary medical officer at ARS' Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory in East Lansing, Michigan.

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Virginia H. Holsinger - Inducted 2000

Virginia H. Holsinger is known for her research on dairy products, especially whey and whey beverages. Her work on formulated foods for emergency use and food donation has enriched the health of needy people worldwide. She is most widely known for developing the enzyme treatment that makes milk digestible by lactose-intolerant individuals. Holsinger, now retired, was research leader of the ARS Dairy Products Research Unit in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.

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Marvin E. Jensen - Inducted 2000

Marvin E. Jensen developed the first practical models of soil-water balance needed to improve irrigation scheduling using computers. His work increased the efficiency of water and energy use, resulting in savings for farmers and consumers. Jensen's work spawned modern scientific irrigation scheduling. He served as a National Program Leader of Water Management Research in Beltsville, Maryland, before retiring from ARS.

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Harley W. Moon - Inducted 2000

Harley W. Moon contributed to a fundamental understanding of intestinal diseases in livestock, and he developed effective control programs for these diseases. Moon discovered that some strains of Escherichia coli, which are common in the intestines of humans and animals, can produce diarrhea. His research opened the way for methods to control E. coli infection. He was director of ARS' Plum Island Foreign Animal Disease Laboratory in Greenport, New York.

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Lawrence A. Johnson - Inducted 2001

Lawrence A. Johnson is recognized as the world authority on sex preselection in mammals, having developed the only validated method for selecting the sex of offspring at conception. Sex preselection has given the livestock industry the ability to manage the proportions of male and female offspring in their breeding herds. Johnson has also made outstanding contributions to semen preservation and artificial insemination in swine. He retired from ARS as research leader of the Germplasm and Gamete Physiology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

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William E. Larson - Inducted 2001

William E. Larson is an authority on soil and its importance to agriculture and the environment. He is widely respected for his understanding of and respect for soil as a natural resource and for his stewardship. He recognized early the fundamental nature of organic matter in creating soil quality. He served as national technical leader for ARS' Tillage/Residue Management Investigation in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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William L. Mengeling - Inducted 2001

William L. Mengeling is one of the world's foremost veterinary virologists. His contributions to controlling viral diseases of swine have had extensive effects on the international swine industry. He developed the main test used in eradicating hog cholera from the United States, leading to savings of $100 million a year in the swine industry. Before retiring from ARS, he served as research leader of the Virus and Prion Diseases of Livestock Research Unit in Ames, Iowa.

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George Inglett - Inducted 2002

George Inglett is one of the foremost international experts in food science and technology. He developed Oatrim, Z-Trim, Nutrim, Soytrim--derivatives from oats, barley, and soy--as fat replacements that provide a fraction of fats' calories to consumers, but still taste good. These products offer many nutritional benefits to consumers. Inglett is a research chemist at ARS' National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.

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K. Darwin Murrell - Inducted 2002

K. Darwin Murrell led USDA's comprehensive research program on trichinellosis, which combined the efforts of many ARS laboratories and other institutions. The program's significant advances in the epidemiology, immunity, diagnosis, and systematics of Trichinella led to a significant reduction in the threat posed by this disease in the United States. Murrell's leadership of laboratory and agency-level programs established and advanced agency research objectives. He retired from ARS as deputy administrator.

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Stuart O. Nelson - Inducted 2002

Stuart O. Nelson, an agricultural engineer in ARS' Quality Assessment Research Unit at Athens, Georgia, is the world authority on dielectric properties of agricultural products and their measurement. His research on the dielectric behavior of granular and pulverized materials led to the first reliable technique for measuring moisture in grain. In the United States, grain moisture content is measured almost exclusively by his methods.

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Edward B. Bagley - Inducted 2003

Edward B. Bagley contributed foundational research to the science of rheology, the study of flow and deformation of matter. He is best known for his role in developing the starch-based copolymer Super Slurper. Super Slurper can absorb up to 2,000 times its own weight in water. The product has become part of a wide variety of products including baby powders, diapers, batteries, and fuel filters. Bagley, now retired, was a research leader at ARS' National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois.

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Janice M. Miller - Inducted 2003

Janice Miller is a veterinary medical officer with ARS' National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa. She is a leader in investigating the biology, causes, and transmission of bovine leukemia and other serious diseases of ruminants. She developed tests for bovine leukemia, bovine tuberculoses, and several other major cattle diseases, greatly reducing their threat to U.S. livestock production and exports.

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Donald K. Barnes - Inducted 2004

Geneticist Donald K. Barnes pioneered the improvement of alfalfa by developing the means to breed the crop for pest resistance and improved nitrogen nutrition. This enabled farmers to depend less on chemical fertilizer. But Barnes' greatest achievement was to reduce by more than one-third the seed required to establish and maintain more than 20 million acres of alfalfa around the world. Furthermore, he almost singlehandedly mentored a generation of alfalfa geneticists. Barnes, now retired, led the Plant Science Research Unit in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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Ruth Rogan Benerito - Inducted 2004

Ruth Rogan Benerito, a chemist, is recognized as one of the foremost inventors of the 20th century. Through her pivotal role in developing wrinkle-free cotton fabrics, she helped make cotton fiber competitive with synthetics. Her basic research in the physical chemistry of cellulose opened up vast potentials in the manufacture of wood and paper products as well as those made from cotton. Benerito was research leader at the Cotton Chemical Reactions Laboratory in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Keith E. Gregory - Inducted 2004

Keith E. Gregory greatly expanded the potential of beef cattle breeding through an understanding of heterosis or "hybrid vigor." He developed a breeding system based on composite cattle—lines that mix traits from different breeds to meet criteria such as feed availability, climate or market characteristics. This crossbreeding increases production through better survival and growth of calves, higher reproductive rate and longer breeding life. Gregory was a geneticist at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska.

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Charles W. Beard - Inducted 2005

Charles W. Beard joined ARS in 1965 at the Southeast Poultry Laboratory in Athens, Ga. During his 28-year career he developed the test for the detection of avian influenza antibodies in serum and egg yolk—a test still considered the worldwide "gold standard" for avian influenza diagnostics. He conducted experimental studies and published papers on a wide variety of poultry disease subjects including serology, vaccines and disease origins. He also developed containment systems for safely conducting infectious disease research. These systems are the basis of construction standards for biocontainment laboratories.

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Nelson A. Cox - Inducted 2005

Nelson A. Cox is among the world's most influential poultry microbiologists. His work has led to huge reductions in Salmonella contamination (from 75 percent of broiler chickens in 1990 to 11 percent in 2005) and massive savings to the poultry industry. Cox proved that immersion chilling is superior, in microbiological terms, to air-blast chilling, preventing a European trade ban that would have hurt the U.S. poultry industry. He and his coworkers also identified hatcheries as significant reservoirs for Salmonella and conducted extensive research on intervention strategies. Cox began his career with ARS in 1971 and still works for the agency, in the Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit at Athens, Ga.

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Sigmund Schwimmer - Inducted 2005

Sigmund Schwimmer's research on enzymes and their varied uses in food preparation and preservation transformed the U.S. food industry. As early as World War II, his enzyme investigations had provided indispensable principles for the modern production of gasohol from corn. His work on low-temperature preservation contributed to the foundation of techniques for modern frozen food. His other research led to improved practices in brewing, baking and distilling and innovative advances in health and nutrition. Schwimmer retired from ARS in 1974, but continues to collaborate with scientists at the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

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Tien C. Tso - Inducted 2005

Tien C. Tso joined ARS in 1952 and retired in 1983. He was a leader in laying the foundation of organic metabolism of phytochemistry: the roles of organic compounds—such as sugars, organic acids, amino acids, sterols and polyphenols—in plants, and their metabolism in the plants. His research findings have broad applications. For example, he developed a group of fatty acid compounds that are widely used in the fruit and flower industries for thinning purposes. Much of his work supports medical and nutritional uses of tobacco plant constituents. In the early 1990s Tso played a key role in establishing a scientific team that helped resolve a major wheat trade issue between the United States and China, resulting in increased U.S. wheat exports to China.

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Wayne W. Hanna - Inducted 2006

In Wayne Hanna's 35 years of research in turfgrass breeding and genetics, he has improved the very surface of the earth we walk on. His bermudagrass varieties have more vigor and resistance to pests and heat and need less fertilizer, pesticides and water. His bermudagrasses are widely used for forage and on golf courses, ball fields and lawns. He developed new pearl millets for forage that cost farmers less to grow while producing higher yields of high-quality pasture. Hanna's seminal research on apomixis (plant cloning) is directed towards producing true-breeding cultivars that retain superior characteristics and hybrid vigor in crops for which traditional hybridization is not economically feasible and in which apomixis does not occur naturally. He has also done vital work on gene transfer in millet. Hanna was based at the ARS Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, Ga.

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Ray D. Jackson - Inducted 2006

The "Father of Remote Sensing," physicist Ray Jackson developed methods used worldwide to evaluate crop health. His methods provide quick, inexpensive, noninvasive assessments of plants and soils. Jackson's insight was to determine directly from plants what their condition was—by observing the difference between their remotely sensed "body temperature" (emitted infrared radiation) and that of the air and soil. Jackson's crop-water stress index better detects yield-robbing crop stress and can indicate when to irrigate. Because of his work at the ARS U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, Ariz., commercial sensors soon became available. The technology expanded to use of airplane/ground systems and then orbiting satellites. Today, remote sensing of vegetation condition is commonplace around the world

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Vernon G. Pursel - Inducted 2006

Vernon Pursel is recognized worldwide for reproductive and genetic technologies in farm animals. His influence on gene engineering and his development of frozen swine semen profoundly influence animal and biomedical science. Freezing of swine semen for artificial insemination was unsuccessful until the 1970s when Pursel developed a procedure that is used to this day. Advances resulting from his research have increased use of artificial insemination to include over 80 percent of the U.S. swine herd. In 1984, Pursel was the first to successfully transfer foreign genes into farm animals. His centrifugation technique made methods used in mouse experiments possible in pigs and cows, and he proved gene transfer is practical in farm species. Transgenetic technology promises better animal growth and milk production, enhanced disease resistance and higher quality food, as well as inexpensive farm production of human medicines.

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Dennis Gonsalves - Inducted 2007

Dennis Gonsalves was a trailblazer in applying pathogen-derived resistance to the development of virus-resistant plant varieties and in related research into viral diseases of fruits and vegetables. After years of studying and improving disease resistance in cucumber, grapevine and other fruits and vegetables, he and his research team developed methods for transferring specific virus genes into host plants to create resistance to that virus. His ringspot-resistant papaya saved the small-farm-based Hawaiian papaya industry. This new variety was so successful that it became the first commercialized transgenic fruit crop. Gonsalves further adapted papaya varieties for local conditions in Africa and Bangladesh. These improved varieties will help in overcoming vitamin-A deficiency in children of those areas.

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Johnie N. Jenkins - Inducted 2007

Plant geneticist Johnie Jenkins' realization of interdisciplinary teamwork on host plant resistance brought great advances in reduction of damage to cotton by insects and nematodes. Investigating differences in germplasm resistance to pests, he pioneered the understanding of the effects of chemical differences among cotton strains on the variability of damage done by pests. Cotton farmers can thank Jenkins for less damage by boll weevils, Heliothis, tarnished plant bugs, and root-knot nematodes. Jenkins also performed seminal work on cotton fruiting, retention, and yield, developing the technique of "plant mapping."

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Janet C. King - Inducted 2007

Janet King, a nutrition scientist, is internationally recognized for her research on energy and zinc metabolism in adults, and especially in pregnant women. Her work has profoundly influenced our understanding of maternal and infant health. She showed in a groundbreaking study that maternal nutritional status—particularly fat stores—at the inception of pregnancy strongly affects the pregnancy's outcome. This led to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies establishing differing weight-gain guidelines fior underweight, normal-range and overweight expectant mothers. King chaired the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, which guided revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Food Pyramid. She also chaired the National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board, which established a new paradigm for U.S. Dietary Reference Intakes, and a United Nations committee on international harmonization of dietary standards.