Halvor Orin Halvorson (March 26, 1897 – October 20, 1975) was an American microbiologist. After receiving his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1928, he continued to teach there until 1949, becoming director of their

Hormel Institute The Hormel Institute is a biomedical research center located in Austin, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1942, the institute is a division of the University of Minnesota with scientists focusing primarily on cancer research. The Hormel Institu ...

in 1943. He served as head of the Bacteriology Department at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

beginning in 1949, and first director of the School of Life Sciences there beginning in 1959. He retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1965, whereupon he returned to the University of Minnesota faculty. He served as president of the Society of American Bacteriologists (now known as the

American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

) in 1955. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in 1957. His son, Harlyn O. Halvorson, was also a microbiologist who served as president of the American Society for Microbiology in 1977. This made the Halvorsons one of two father-son pairs to both serve as presidents of the Society.

References

1897 births 1975 deaths American bacteriologists University of Minnesota alumni University of Minnesota faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty People from River Falls, Wisconsin {{US-biologist-stub