author
Rennie Wilbur Doane
1871–1942
A Stanford entomologist who wrote for students and general readers, he helped explain how insects affect everyday life, from farming to human health. His books bring early 20th-century science into clear, practical focus.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born on March 11, 1871, Rennie Wilbur Doane was an American entomologist and zoologist best known for his long career at Stanford University. Stanford archives describe him as joining the faculty in 1905 as an instructor and curator in entomology, and he remained associated with the university for decades.
Doane studied dipterans, the order of insects that includes flies, and he also wrote textbooks on insects and economic entomology. Among his better-known books is Insects and Disease (1910), a popular account of the role insects can play in spreading illness, along with later teaching texts such as Elementary Textbook of Economic Zoology and Entomology, written with Vernon L. Kellogg.
He died on December 1, 1942. Though he is remembered first as a scientist and teacher, his books still offer an interesting window into how biology, public health, and applied science were explained to readers of his time.