Prof. Edward Norris Wentworth. Editor, author, and professor of animal breeding at the Kansas State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, Edward Norris Wentworth has accomplished more in the way of adding to the knowledge of mankind, in his twenty-nine years, than have many others in a whole lifetime. His studies have been particularly directed along the line of animal breeding, but, while making this his specialty, he has further broadened his field of knowledge and has won collegiate honors and degrees through high scholarship.
Edward Norris Wentworth was born at Dover, New Hampshire, January 11, 1887, and is a son of Elmer M. and Elizabeth T. (Towne) Wentworth. At the age of six years he was taken by his parents to new homes in the West. They tarried for a short time in Indiana, moved then to Chicago, Illinois, and from there, in 1894, to Marshalltown, Iowa.
It was in Iowa that Edward N. Wentworth grew to manhood. After attending the public schools he matriculated in the Iowa State College, at Ames, and was an apt student, being graduated from that institution in 1907, at the age of twenty years, with the degree of B. S. A. Two years later he received from the same college the degree of M. S. In the fall of 1907 he began his career as an educator, as a teacher in the animal husbandry department of the Iowa State College, where he continued until May, 1913, when he was invited to Chicago and tendered the position of associate editor of the Breeders’ Gazette, the leading livestock publication in America. His editorial work on this journal was eminently satisfactory, showing thorough grasp of the subjects that were his specialities, which subjects he made interesting and instructive to its readers. He continued with the Gazette until September, 1914, when he came to the Kansas State Agricultural College to assume the duties of his present position.
As a writer, especially in his own particular line, Professor Wentworth has won an enviable reputation. He is the author of five small volumes, published under the general title, “Cattle Husbandry.” In collaboration with Dr. L. J. Cole, of the University of Wisconsin, he is co-author of a text book on heredity in relation to live stock breeding. He leads a busy intellectual as well as practical life, contributing to farm literature, extending the scope of his educational work, and at the same time giving close attention to the every day developments pertaining to his division, one of the most important in the college departments.
In 1911 Professor Wentworth was united in marriage with Miss Alma McCulla, a descendant of Scotch-Irish stock. Through heroic ancestors, Professor Wentworth is a Son of the American Revolution, of which his father was national president in 1916. He belongs to numerous scientific organizations among which are included: the American Society of Zoologists, the American Society of Naturalists, the American Society of Animal Production and others, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of its council board. He retains full membership in his Greek fraternity of college days, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and in the honorary fraternities, the Alpha Zeta (agricultural), the Sigma Delta Chi (journalistic), the Alpha Psi (veterinary) and the Phi Kappa Phi, being a member of the national board of regents of the latter fraternity.
At no time in the world’s history has agriculture been of such vital importance as the present and it is encouraging to realize that its development is the chosen work of such able and enthusiastic men as Professor Wentworth. In the solution of the problems to which they give attention lies undoubtedly the future maintenance and preservation of the human race.