About J. Gordon Edwards (entomologist)
J. Gordon Edwards (August 24, 1919 – July 19, 2004) was an American entomologist and proponent of the use and safety of the pesticide DDT. He was professor of entomology at San Jose State University for 40 years, and namesake to the university's entomology museum. He was an outspoken critic of Rachel Carson and efforts to ban DDT, famously eating the substance to demonstrate its safety to humans. He was also a noted mountain climber, spending nine seasons as a ranger-naturalist in Glacier National Park during the 1940s and '50s, and returning often to collect insects and map routes. His 1961 book A Climber's Guide to Glacier National Park, republished several times since, made him known as the "patron saint of climbing" in the park, where he died while hiking, aged 84. == Early life and education == J. Gordon Edwards was born on August 24, 1919, in Wilmington, Ohio, to parents Gus and Evadne Edwards (née Spears). He was named after the silent film director J. Gordon Edwards. He grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and joined the Boy Scouts at age 12. He studied botany at Butler University, Indiana, graduating in 1942, then enlisted in the United States Army during World War II, serving as a combat medic with the 95th Infantry Division in Europe. He wrote about eradicating bed bugs in the barracks, and dusting personnel with DDT to control body lice and prevent typhus. He was discharged from the military after the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, having spent nearly four years with the army.
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