Van Den Bosch, Robert

Robert van den Bosch was born on March 31, 1922, in Martinez, California, USA. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a degree in physical education before shifting his emphasis to entomology. He received his Ph.D. in 1950. He worked at the University of Hawaii from 1949 to 1951, the University of California-Riverside from 1951–1963, and the University of California-Berkeley from 1963 to 1978. van den Bosch had great influence in the fields of integrated pest management and biological control. Along with colleagues V.M Stern, R.F. Smith and others at the University of California, van den Bosch espoused an integrated approach to pest management that used chemical insecticides as only one element of pest suppression, relying on biological and cultural control for much mortality among pest populations. More specifically, chemical pesticides were viewed as a necessary but undesirable tactic that would be used only when absolutely necessary. The...