Dr. George E. Ball has served the entomological community with distinction since graduating from Cornell University in 1954. In that year, he joined the University of Alberta, becoming a full professor in 1965. He later served as the entomology department’s chair (1974-84) before retiring in 1992. Ball has been the Ph.D. advisor to 38 graduates during his career and two more after his retirement. He also has published 134 research papers and edited or co-edited five books.
A world expert on Mexican Carabidae, Ball has amassed the most important collection representing Mexican species from more than 40 years of field work. He has discovered important morphological characters that have led to stable classification of many tribes within the Carabidae. An Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) Gold Medal recipient (1980), he is an honorary member of ESC (1994) and the Entomological Society of Alberta (2000).
Ball received his M.S. in biology from the University of Alabama (1950) and his Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell (1954). In 1944 and 1945, Ball took a break from collegiate studies and served in the U.S. Marines in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre, receiving the Purple Heart, a Presidential Unit Citation-Okinawan Campaign, and the Victory Medal.
(updated September, 2005)