Cornelius Becker Philip (1900-1987) - Entomologist

Biographical Sketch, by Sharon Landwehr, Archives Volunteer

Cornelius Becker Philip was born in Fort Lupton, Colorado, on 12 June 1900. He graduated from the University of Nebraska (1923), and obtained a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Minnesota (1932). Philip participated in the Rockefeller Foundation (1928-1929) in the study and control of yellow fever in West Africa. Later employed at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory, U.S. Public Health Service, Hamilton, Montana (Associate to Principal Medical Entomologist 1930-1970, Assistant Director 1950-1962, Director 1962-1964) he became recognized as a world expert in ticks, biting flies, and the diseases they transmit. During World War II he served as a member of the U.S. Typhus Commission developing protective measures against scrub typhus, a mite-borne disease of the Armed Forces in the Pacific. Upon his retirement from government service at the age of 70, he continued his scientific career as a Research Associate of the California Academy of Sciences (1970-1987, Fellow, 1972).

Philip was acknowledged as a Mayo Foundation and Theobald Smith lecturer (1940, 1948), Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow (1941-1942), Outstanding Achievement Alumnus award University of Minnesota (1960), and Consultant, Pan American Health Organization (1962-1970). Organizational memberships included the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Parasitology (Vice-President 1948, President 1953), Entomological Society of America (Board of Governors 1959-1962), American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (Council 1960), and Pacific Coast Entomological Society (President 1974).

Sources Consulted:

Who's Who in America. 43rd edition, 1984-1985

American Men and Women of Science, 12th Edition

California Academy of Sciences Index for the Manuscript Collection