Artist: Othmar J. Hoffler (1893–1954); original portrait by Arvid Nyholm
Harry Luman Russell
RUSSELL, HARRY LUMAN (1866–1954), inducted 1922
Harry Luman Russell earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, his native state. He studied abroad, with Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch, before earning his Ph.D. in bacteriology from Johns Hopkins University in 1892. After one year of teaching at the University of Chicago, Dr. Russell returned to the University of Wisconsin, to organize a department of bacteriology. In 1903, Russell became director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, and in 1907, was selected to succeed W. A. Henry as dean of the College of Agriculture. Russell pioneered bovine tuberculosis research in the West, advanced the commercial pasteurization of milk, and along with Stephen Babcock, developed the cold curing process for cheese. In addition, he diagnosed problems in vegetable canning, transforming American industrial sterilization practices. Dean Russell organized the state’s agricultural extension program and served as president of the American Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities. A charter member of the Society of American Bacteriologists, he was the organization’s president in 1908. The American Society of Animal Production promoted his induction into the Saddle & Sirloin Club gallery.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 171