Roswell Hill Johnson

Who was Roswell Hill Johnson?

Roswell Hill Johnson was an American eugenics professor in the early twentieth century. Born in Buffalo in 1877 and educated at Brown, Harvard, and the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin, Johnson conducted research at the Anatomical Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin and at the Carnegie Institution’s Station for Experimental Evolution. He joined the Carnegie staff in July 1905 as an assistant to Charles Davenport, the nation’s most influential eugenicist in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Johnson’s early work involved ladybugs, whose short life cycle made them ideal for studying evolution. He also developed techniques for locating underground petroleum reserves.