Van Duzee, Edward Payson

Edward Van Duzee was born at New York, New York, USA, on April 6, 1861. The son of a scientist, Edward was encouraged to work in the sciences, and he did so quite successfully, eventually becoming known as the greatest hemipterist in the United States. He became assistant librarian of the Grosvenor Library, a research library, in Buffalo, New York, in 1885, and then head librarian 10 years later. This environment allowed him to devote his attentions to the Hemiptera, and the bibliography of Hemiptera. Van Duzee collected throughout the United States. About 1900 he began a great monograph of the Hemiptera, a project that took 10 years to complete. It proved to be an outstanding compilation and serves as a model of completeness. Van Duzee left the Grosvenor Library after 27 years of employment, and before the catalogue was completed, due to ill health. He accepted employment as an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the catalogue “Hemiptera of America north of...