Leonard E. Swanson

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Citation

Unknown. “Leonard E. Swanson.” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed March 29, 2024, https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/8207.

Biography

Leonard Erwin Swanson was born August 13, 1898 in Potomac, Montana. He attended Ohio State University, earning his B.S. degree in agriculture in 1925 and his D.V.M. in 1927.

The Zoological Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) hired Swanson as junior zoologist in 1931. During the course of his BAI career, he served as an inspector and assistant parasitologist at the Zoological Division’s experiment stations in Illinois, Montana, and Georgia. He carried out extensive research on anthelmintics, or drugs used to eliminate parasitic worms. Among Swanson’s research activities were studies focused on swine sanitation and the control of the sheep liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica.

Swanson left the BAI in 1941 to accept a post as professor at the University of Florida in 1941. He taught courses in parasitology in addition to conducting research at the agricultural experiment station there.

Swanson died in Gainesville, Florida in 1980.


Sources:

Andrews, John S. “Animal Parasitology in the United States Department of Agriculture, 1886-1984.” In 100 Years of Animal Health 1884-1984, edited by Vivian D. Wiser, Larry Mark, H. Graham Purchase, and Associates of the National Agricultural Library, 113–65. Beltsville, MD: Associates of the National Agricultural Library, Inc., 1987.

Cattell, Jaques. American Men of Science: A Biographical Directory 9th ed. Lancaster, PA: Science Press, 1955.

The University Record of the University of Florida: University Directory, 1941-42, vol. 36, series 1, no. 11. Accessed September 3, 2015. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00075594/00289