John Andreas Widtsoe › Texts

John A. Widtsoe, John Andreas Widtsoe, 31 January 1872 - 29 November 1952; member Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1921 until his death; noted author, scientist, and academician; born on Freya island, Norway; moved to Namsos, Norway in 1874; emigrated to United States, Utah Territory in 1883; graduated Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah; graduated Harvard University in 1894; head, agricultural experiment station at Utah State Agricultural College; taught farming skills; 1898 attended University of Göttingen, Germany and obtained an A.M. and Ph.D. in 1899; part of time in Europe lived in Switzerland; 1900 became the director Agricultural Experiment Station in what is now Utah State University; founded The Deseret Farmer magazine; 1905 professor of agriculture at Brigham Young University; building on BYU Campus named in his honor that houses the College of Biology and Agriculture; President Utah State University 1907-1916; President University of Utah 1916-1921; Commissioner of Church Education 1921-1924, 1934-1936; taught religion class at University of Southern California; supervised reorganization of the Federal Bureau of Reclamation in Washington, D.C. for 2 years in the 1920s; served several missions to Europe; author of many books, biographies and wrote two autobiographies; wrote a hymn; died in Salt Lake City, Utah

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