Homage to Robert Lee Metcalf (1916-1998): entomologist, environmental toxicologist, and insect chemical ecologist.

The late Professor R.L. Metcalf is being honored as one of the leading entomologists of the 20th century, whose worldwide influence on entomology, insecticide and environmental toxicology, and insect chemical ecology was enormous. His 82-year life span mirrored the transition in entomology from the early descriptive phase of insect and plant and animal interactions to the more detailed integration of the biochemical, physiological, behavioral, ecological, and environmental understanding of nature within the context of societal issues and needs. New techniques, some relatively simple but never-the-less ingenious, paved his way to fame. Metcalf was an enormously productive scientist. His 450+ research publications, numerous books and editorships, patents, internationally oriented staff of students, postdocs and associates, and his contributions to teaching and to public service let him stand out as a challenging role model for those young minds starting their careers at the beginning of the 21st century.