Herbert Hice Whetzel

Herbert Hice Whetzel (September 5, 1877 – November 30, 1944) was an American mycologist and plant pathologist. He was born near Avilla, Indiana, where he spent his boyhood. After graduating from Wabash College in 1902, he attended graduate school at Cornell University, where he studied under George F. Atkinson. He was a professor at Cornell University for 42 years, including the final 13 years as head of the department. Whetzel studied sclerotium-producing fungi, and published a monograph of genera in the family Sclerotiniaceae. He died in Ithaca, New York at the age of 67.
Whetzel was also a charter member of the American Phytopathological Society, authored more than 300 publications, and was instrumental in developing the Cornell Herbarium.
In 1907 Whetzel was appointed the title of Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, making him the first Professor of Plant Pathology in the United States.