Edward F. Knipling: titan and driving force in ecologically selective area-wide pest management

Few entomologists have impacted insect pest management as profoundly as Edward F Knipling (1909-2000). During WWII, Knipling and his colleagues developed highly effective measures to protect both military personnel and civilian populations from major arthropod-borne diseases. The sterile insect technique was Knipling's conception, and he successfully guided its development and use against the screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel, and against various other pests. He inspired and guided the development of a wide range of ecologically selective methods of insect detection and suppression. Knipling became a leading proponent and theoretician of area-wide pest management and of the design of systems of pest population suppression to achieve synergism between control methods efficient at high pest population densities and those efficient at low densities. Knipling was convinced that many pest problems could be met without harm to the environment by the area-wide application of systems including the augmentation of natural enemies.