Herman Frederik Nijhout (born November 25, 1947) is a Dutch-born American evolutionary biologist and the John Franklin Crowell Professor of Biology at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. His research is focused on

evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary developmental biology, informally known as evo-devo, is a field of biological research that compares the developmental biology, developmental processes of different organisms to infer how developmental processes evolution, evolved. ...

and

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

, with a particular focus on the hormonal control of growth, molting and metamorphosis in

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

, including the mechanisms that control the development of alternative phenotypes. Much of his work has also been concerned with understanding the development and evolution of the wing patterns of

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

. He received the ESA Founders' Memorial Award from the

Entomological Society of America The Entomological Society of America (ESA) was founded in 1889 and today has more than 7,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, ...

in 2006. In 2015, he was awarded the A.O. Kowalevsky Medal, and in 2018, he was elected a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. He was elected a Member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2025.https://www.nasonline.org/news/2025-nas-election/

References

External links

Faculty pageLab pageInterview
with WUNC * Living people Dutch biologists Dutch emigrants to the United States American evolutionary biologists American developmental biologists Dutch entomologists Duke University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1947 births University of Notre Dame alumni Harvard University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences {{Netherlands-scientist-stub