Ralph H. Smith  (1888-1945)

Ralph Henry Smith, Entomology: Riverside and Los Angeles 1888-1945 Professor Entomologist in the Agricultural Experiment Station Ralph Henry Smith, Professor of Entomology and Entomologist in the Agricultural Experiment Station, was born on a farm at Kincaid, Kansas, June 7, 1888, of American parentage. He died at his home in Los Angeles on September 22, 1945. He attended the country schools near Kincaid, and after two years at the Garrett High School he taught two terms in a country school before he was twenty years old. After graduation from the Kansas State Teachers' College at Emporia, he taught for one year in the high school at Blue Rapids, Kansas, and then served as Superintendent of Schools in Irving, Kansas, for the next two years. After graduating with an A.B. degree in 1916 from the University of Kansas, he accepted a teaching fellowship for one year at the Oregon State College at Corvallis. In 1917 he entered the University of California at Berkeley, where he held a teaching fellowship in Zoology while studying for an M.A. degree, which he received in 1918. Then the federal government put him in charge of a war emergency project on the control of clover aphis at Twin Falls, Idaho. At the end of the war the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station took over the project and established a sub-station at Twin Falls with Dr. Smith in charge. In 1922 he accepted the position of research entomologist for the California Central Creameries in San Francisco, where for two years he conducted extensive studies on the control of the codling moth and also with casein as a supplement in agricultural sprays. In the fall of 1924 he reentered the University of California at Berkeley, where he completed the work on his Ph.D. degree in the spring of 1925. He then accepted a position as Acting Assistant Professor in the Entomology Department at Stanford University during the fall and winter terms of 1925-1926. In March of 1926 he became Assistant Entomologist in the University of California Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside. Here his outstanding researches on petroleum oil as an insecticide for use against insects on citrus and his development and perfection of the tank-mix oil spray earned him his rapid promotion to the position of Entomologist in 1931. While at Riverside, he served on the City Board of Education and was particularly active in the development of better school facilities in that city. In 1936 he transferred to the Los Angeles Campus with the additional title of Lecturer in Entomology. In 1938 he was made Professor of Entomology. After settling in Los Angeles he investigated the insects affecting ornamental plants, and devised means for their control. At the time of his death he was conducting extensive experiments on the use of the insecticide DDT in the control of insect pests of ornamental plants. Dr. Smith has published many articles which are worthy contributions to the science of entomology. Death prevented his completing two books, The Insect Pests of Ornamental Plants in the United States and The History of Oil Sprays. He was a very successful teacher. His illustrative teaching materials, such as riker and other mounts of insects in their various stages of development, together with preserved specimens of plant material showing typical insect injury, are unsurpassed. Although in later life he was not strong physically, his ambition and determination drove him to great heights of endeavor, and he accomplished noteworthy results in many walks of life. His splendid character, high ideals, honesty, and friendliness made him a man of great worth in his home life, society, and in his profession. He was married in 1914 to Sarah Fake, a fellow school teacher in Irving, Kansas. They had four sons, Norman, Hamilton, Gordon, and Stanford. Dr. Smith is also survived by his mother, two brothers, and three sisters. Academic Senate Committee H.J. Quayle R.L. Beals A.M. Boyce F.F. Halma [Calisphere accessed December 2010, GMN] (see also Essig, E.O., 1945, Journal of Economic Entomology 28(5): 624-625)

Affiliation	U. Kansas (A.B. 1916), U.C. Berkeley (MA 1918, PhD 1925), Citrus Experiment Station (1926-1936), UCLA (Lecturer 1936-38, Profess
Label Abbreviation	R.H. Smith
Other Names	R.H. Smith

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