Koebele, Albert 1853-1925

Albert Koebele (1853-1925) was on February 28, 1853, in Germany. He came to the United States in 1880. He was credited for being the one of the first entomologists to introduce beneficial insects to combat insect pests. In 1881, he became an assistant entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He transferred to Alameda, California, in 1885. In 1888, he traveled to Australia, where he collected the Novius Cardinalis and brought it back to California to combat the Icerya Purchasi (a citrus pest). The process was successful and possibly saved the citrus industry in California. Koebele resigned from his job in 1893 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, to work as an entomologist at the Experimental Station in Honolulu. He traveled to many places in search for beneficial insects, including Australia, Fiji, Ceylon, China, Japan, and Mexico. Koebele died on December 28, 1924, in Germany.

Albert Koebele was a self-taught entomologist and a pioneer in the field of economic entomology, one of the first to introduce natural enemies of insect pests as a form of biological control.

Koebele was born in Germany, came to the United States in 1873 and joined the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in 1881. In 1888, Koebele traveled to Australia, collecting ladybugs (Rodolia (Novius) cardinalis) for use against the cottony-cushion scale (Icerya purchasi), a citrus pest. In 1893, Koebele became a consulting entomologist with the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station in Honolulu, making extensive collecting trips in search of beneficial insects to Australia, Fiji, Sri Lanka, China, Japan and Mexico. Koebele returned to Germany in 1908 and was caught by the outbreak of World War I. In poor health and unable to return to the U.S., he died in Germany in 1924.