Glenn Wade Salisbury, 1910-1994: a brief biography.

On June 2, 1910, on a farm in the town of Sheffield (Ashtabula County), Ohio, was born Glenn Wade Salisbury, destined to become a superb scientist, an outstanding teacher, and an agricultural leader for the ages. After matriculating through the public school system in Columbus, Ohio, he graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1931. In three years he completed work for his Ph.D. at Cornell University with a major in Animal Husbandry and minors in Nutrition and Genetics, receiving the degree in June 1934. Another major event shaping his life during graduate study was his marriage to a most supportive lifelong companion, Dorothy Cross, in 1932. Thereupon he started his long and illustrious career as an Instructor in the Animal Husbandry Department at Cornell. In 10 years he had risen through the ranks to full professor. His early research dealt with nutritional aspects of feeding and management, such as the effects of the quality of hay and protein in the diet on milk production of dairy cattle. Other research involved genetics and milk secretion. In 1937 he visited parts of Europe to exchange ideas on the future direction of research. In 1939 he pursued these ideas further with others at eight midwestern agricultural experiment stations. Then, in 1939, he and Professor Stanley Brownell, Head of the Animal Science Extension Division at Cornell, established what was to become the most extensive and productive program in the world on the science and application of artificial insemination of cattle. Many of the future leaders in the field developed through this program of research, teaching, and extension and had tremendous impact on improvement of dairy cattle throughout the world. A few examples of the types of ideas Dr. Salisbury pioneered, researched, and put into practice were 1) egg yolk-citrate, an improved medium for preserving sperm, 2) use of antibacterial agents to control possible pathogens in semen, 3) design of field trials providing the scientific basis for establishing the optimal numbers of sperm for insemination, and 4) the development of nonreturns to service as a practical low cost measure of fertility. All these were widely adopted in the artificial breeding industry. Thus, sperm from each bull could be preserved and used to inseminate thousands of cows and produce a high rate of pregnancy. Artificial insemination of dairy cows with the semen of genetically superior sires and the control of several venereal diseases was worth billions of dollars to the dairy industry. The collaborative effort between Cornell University and its staff, New York State legislative personnel, and farm leaders serves today as a monumental model of the success that can be achieved with modest costs when it involves a person with the ingenuity, initiative, scientific ability, and practical vision of Dr. Salisbury. He was a prime mover of this program, along with Professor Brownell, and he also carried on administrative duties as head of Animal Breeding. He taught a large, highly popular course in animal breeding, combining reproductive physiology with genetic selection. He prepared a mimeographed textbook for his students with a clear and concise view of the essential concepts of these subjects. His research continued at the University of Illinois, where he became head of the Department of Dairy Science in 1947. With collaborators, he conducted many basic studies on regulators of sperm metabolism, on maintenance of the integrity of DNA in sperm, and the development of new semen extenders to preserve the viability and genetic integrity of DNA in sperm. In addition, he attracted and hired a strong group of faculty while he headed the department from 1947 to 1969. Thereafter, as Director of the