Leunis Van Es, Veterinary Science Papers

Leunis Van Es was born October 3, 1868 in Melissant, Holland. He graduated with a degree in tropical agriculture from the Government School of Agriculture in Wageningen, Netherlands, in 1886. He came to Seward, Nebraska, to work as a farmhand in 1889. He received his degree in veterinary surgery from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1893. From Toronto, he moved to Mobile, Alabama, to work as an instructor and veterinary surgeon. Van Es received his medical degree from Alabama Medical College in 1898.

Van Es went to Fargo, North Dakota, in 1903 to work as State Veterinarian and Head of the Veterinary Science Department at North Dakota Agriculture College. He drafted the 1907 Livestock Sanitary Board Law to help control infectious livestock diseases, and served as the Bacteriologist and Consulting Veterinarian for the Board until 1918. During this time, sheep scabies, cattle scabies, horse dourine, and bovine tuberculosis were brought under control and eradicated. He received a Doctor of Agriculture honorary degree from the college in 1946.

In 1918, Van Es came to the University of Nebraska (NU) as the Chairman of the Animal Pathology and Hygiene Department. He became an emeritus professor at his retirement in 1946. While at NU, he gained recognition for his research in undulant fever, tuberculosis, and swine erysipelas, and authored numerous publications on animal pathology and hygiene.

Van Es's general activities include serving as a delegate to the 9th International Veterinary Congress held in The Hague, Netherlands (1909), as president of the United States Livestock Sanitary Board (1927), and memberships in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), National Association, and the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. He was awarded the 12th International AVMA Veterinary Congress Prize (1935), an honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University School of Veterinary Medicine (1935) the NU Block and Bridle Club award (1948), and Kiwanis Medal for Distinguished Service (1953). The Leunis Van Es Laboratory at North Dakota Agriculture College (now North Dakota State University) was dedicated to him in 1952. He died August 27, 1956 in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the age of 87.