# Fred Iltis
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{{short description|American entomologist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Fred Iltis
| image = Fred-Iltis-2005-San-Jose-California-with-Zea-diploperennis.jpg
| caption = Fred Iltis with ''Zea diploperennis'' in 2005
| birth_name = Wilfred Gregor Iltis
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|4|20}}
| birth_place =[Brno](/source/Brno), [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|12|11|1923|4|20}}
| death_place =[San Jose, California](/source/San_Jose%2C_California)
| fields = [Entomology](/source/Entomology)
| workplaces = {{Plainlist|
* [Harvard School of Public Health](/source/Harvard_T.H._Chan_School_of_Public_Health)
* [San Jose State University](/source/San_Jose_State_University)}}
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
* [Western Kentucky State Teachers College](/source/Western_Kentucky_State_Teachers_College)
* [University of California, Davis](/source/University_of_California%2C_Davis)}}
}}
'''Fred Iltis''' (April 20, 1923 – December 11, 2008) was an American [entomologist](/source/entomology). His research focused on the biosystematics and life cycle of [mosquito](/source/mosquito)es.
==Life and work==
'''Wilfred Gregor Iltis''' was born on April 20, 1923, in [Brno](/source/Brno), [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia), to Anni (née Liebscher) and [Hugo Iltis](/source/Hugo_Iltis), a botanist and geneticist who was a life sciences teacher at the German-language [secondary school](/source/Gymnasium_(school)) of Brno. His father was also the first biographer of [Gregor Mendel](/source/Gregor_Mendel)[M. Turda and P.J. Weindling, eds. ''"Blood and Homeland": Eugenics and Racial Nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe, 1900-1940''. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2007.] and a vocal opponent of [Nazi "racial science"](/source/Nazi_eugenics). In the fall of 1938, the Iltis family was granted visas to enter the United States thanks to the intercession of the [Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars](/source/Emergency_Committee_in_Aid_of_Displaced_Foreign_Scholars), along with affidavits of endorsement from [Albert Einstein](/source/Albert_Einstein) and [Franz Boas](/source/Franz_Boas). In January 1939, when [Hitler](/source/Hitler)'s military was preparing the [invasion of Czechoslovakia](/source/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia), fifteen-year-old Wilfred escaped with his mother and his younger brother [Hugh](/source/Hugh_Iltis) on a harrowing train ride that traversed [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) to France. During a midnight stop at the [Stuttgart](/source/Stuttgart) station, [Gestapo](/source/Gestapo) officers combed the train, removing ten passengers; the Iltises survived because the boys pretended to be asleep while their mother bluffed that she was the wife of a French diplomat. In [Cherbourg](/source/Cherbourg), they were joined by Hugo Iltis and boarded the passenger ship [RMS Aquitania](/source/RMS_Aquitania) for the Atlantic crossing. They settled in [Fredericksburg, Virginia](/source/Fredericksburg%2C_Virginia), where Hugo Iltis was soon appointed to a professorship in biology at [Mary Washington College](/source/Mary_Washington_University).
Fred Iltis began his undergraduate studies in 1941 at [George Washington University](/source/George_Washington_University) but after one semester transferred to [Western Kentucky State Teachers College](/source/Western_Kentucky_State_Teachers_College), pursuing a major in agriculture.[{{Cite journal|last=WKU Student Affairs|date=1941-10-31|title=UA12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 18, No. 3|url=https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records/3851|journal=WKU Archives Records}}]
During World War II, Iltis served in the Army in the South Pacific for two and a half years. He was a private first class and sanitary technician in [malaria](/source/malaria) control and was in the battles of the [Northern Solomons](/source/Solomon_Islands_campaign), [South Philippines](/source/Philippines_campaign_(1944%E2%80%931945)), and [Luzon](/source/Battle_of_Luzon). He was awarded the [Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal](/source/Asiatic%E2%80%93Pacific_Campaign_Medal) with 3 bronze stars, the [Philippine Liberation Medal](/source/Philippine_Liberation_Medal) with one bronze star, the [Good Conduct Medal](/source/Good_Conduct_Medal_(United_States)), and the [Victory Medal](/source/World_War_II_Victory_Medal).
In 1948, he married Julia Patricia Zrinyi (Judy) (1926–2004), a graphic artist and scientific illustrator.[{{cite web |url=http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/bugbytesspring09.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2009-10-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610052203/http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/news/bugbytesspring09.pdf |archivedate=2010-06-10 }}]
Iltis worked briefly at Harvard in 1967–1968 as a research fellow in Tropical Public Health for the [Harvard School of Public Health](/source/Harvard_T.H._Chan_School_of_Public_Health).[{{Cite web |url=https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-346295035/harvard-school-of-public-health-cambridge-mass-annual-catalog-vol |title=Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Mass., Annual Catalog, Vol. LXIV, 1967-1968 - Compilation of Published Sources - MyHeritage |access-date=2017-02-08 |archive-date=2017-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080323/https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-346295035/harvard-school-of-public-health-cambridge-mass-annual-catalog-vol |url-status=dead }}] After settling in [San Jose, California](/source/San_Jose%2C_California), in the 1960s, Iltis taught in the Biology Department at [San José State University](/source/San_Jos%C3%A9_State_University).