author
Louis M. (Louis Marcus) Roth
b. 1918
Best known as a leading expert on cockroaches, this Harvard entomologist turned a commonly disliked insect into a lifelong subject of careful, influential study. His work helped shape how scientists understood cockroach behavior, physiology, and classification.
1 Audiobook
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches
by Louis M. (Louis Marcus) Roth, Edwin R. Willis
About the author
Louis M. Roth (Louis Marcus Roth, 1918–2003) was an American entomologist whose name is closely tied to the study of cockroaches. Sources from Johns Hopkins University Press and the Entomological Society of America describe him as a world-renowned specialist, and ESA notes that he was elected a Fellow in 1952.
Over the course of his career, he worked at the U.S. Research and Development Laboratories and at Harvard University. According to ESA, he spent the first part of his career studying mosquitoes before shifting his focus to cockroaches, where he became especially known for research on their behavior, physiology, and systematics.
That unusual specialty also reached a wider audience. A Harvard Gazette profile showed him still deeply engaged with the subject late in life, and his published work includes titles such as The Medical and Veterinary Importance of Cockroaches and The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches.