# Frederick Knab

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{{short description|American entomologist (1865–1918)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Frederick Knab
|image         = Frederick Knab.jpg
|caption       = a portrait of Knab from his obituary<ref name="CB&H"/>
|birth_name    = 
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1865|09|22}}
|birth_place   = [Würzburg](/source/W%C3%BCrzburg), [Kingdom of Bavaria](/source/Kingdom_of_Bavaria)
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1918|11|02|1865|09|22}}
|death_place   = Washington, D.C., U.S.
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|citizenship   = United States
|other_names   = 
|known_for     = [Artist](/source/Painting), [entomologist](/source/entomologist) 
|education     = 
|alma_mater    = [Academy of Fine Arts, Munich](/source/Academy_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Munich), PhD Candidate [George Washington University](/source/George_Washington_University)
|employer      = [United States National Museum](/source/United_States_National_Museum)
|occupation    = 
|years_active  = 1885–1918
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}}

'''Frederick Knab''' (September 22, 1865 – November 2, 1918) was an artist and [entomologist](/source/entomologist) active from the 1880s through the 1918, most noted for his [oil paintings](/source/oil_paintings) and [illustrations](/source/illustrations) and his work with [coleopterous](/source/Coleoptera) and [dipterous](/source/Diptera) insects.<ref name="SIA1">{{cite web|work=Smithsonian Institution Archives|title= Record Unit 7108, Knab, Frederick, 1865–1918, Frederick Knab Papers|url= http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217266|accessdate= January 29, 2012}}</ref><ref name="AA">{{cite web|work=AskART Artists' Bluebook, Worldwide Edition|title=Frederick Knab  (1873<!--{{sic}}--> – 1918)|url= http://www.askart.com/askart/k/frederick_knab/frederick_knab.aspx|accessdate= January 29, 2012}}</ref>

Knab was born September 22, 1865, in [Würzburg](/source/W%C3%BCrzburg), [Kingdom of Bavaria](/source/Kingdom_of_Bavaria) and came to the United States as a boy of eight, about two to three years after the formation of the [German Empire](/source/German_Empire). He emigranted with his parents, Oscar and Josephine Knab, who settled in [Chicopee, Massachusetts](/source/Chicopee%2C_Massachusetts) in 1873.<ref name="CB&H">{{cite book|first1=Andrew N. |last1=Caudell|authorlink1=Andrew Nelson Caudell|first2= August|last2=Busck|first3= Leland O. |last3=Howard|year=1919|title= Frederick Knab. ''Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington'' 21(3)|pages= 41–52|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BuEHxX-z9XcC&q=%22frederick+knab%22+artist&pg=PA41|accessdate= January 29, 2012}}</ref>  His father was an [engraver](/source/engraver) and painter and an uncle was [court painter](/source/court_painter) to the [King of Bavaria](/source/King_of_Bavaria).  In his youth, Knab showed artistic talent and a strong interest in the [natural sciences](/source/natural_sciences), especially [entomology](/source/entomology).  He studied the classic works of [Charles Darwin](/source/Charles_Darwin), [Alfred Russel Wallace](/source/Alfred_Russel_Wallace), and [Henry Walter Bates](/source/Henry_Walter_Bates) and accumulated a large collection of insects, particularly [beetle](/source/beetle)s (Order [Coleoptera](/source/Coleoptera)), and became an active member of the [Springfield (Massachusetts)](/source/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts) Zoological Club and an active correspondent with other coleopterists.<ref name="CB&H" />

In 1885, Knab undertook a sixteen month collecting trip up the [Amazon River](/source/Amazon_River), traveling from its mouth to [Peru](/source/Peru).<ref name="CB&H"/> He kept a journal of his expedition, which formed an important source of experience for his later scientific career.<ref name="SIA1"/> In 1889, he went to Europe and studied art for two years at the [Munich Academy](/source/Munich_Academy), and then established a studio in [Chicopee](/source/Chicopee%2C_Massachusetts) with the intention of making [landscape painting](/source/landscape_painting) his profession.<ref name="CB&H"/>

In 1903 the [Carnegie Institution of Washington](/source/Carnegie_Institution_of_Washington) provided a grant to [United States Department of Agriculture](/source/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture) entomologist [Leland Ossian Howard](/source/Leland_Ossian_Howard) to develop a [monograph](/source/monograph) of the [mosquitoes](/source/mosquitoes) of [North](/source/North_America) and Central America and the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies).  In organizing the work [Howard](/source/Leland_Ossian_Howard) sought the advice of entomologist George Dimmock<ref name="JHE">{{cite web|author=James H. Emerton|year= 1930|title= Obituary—George Dimmock|work=Psyche 37:299|url= http://psyche.entclub.org/37/37-299.html|accessdate= January 29, 2012}}</ref> of [Springfield](/source/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts) as to the best observer known to him who could undertake the study of the biology of the mosquitoes of the [New England](/source/New_England) region, and Dimmock nominated Knab. Knab's work produced important notes and a report illustrated by drawings which were so excellent that State Entomologist of Illinois [Stephen Alfred Forbes](/source/Stephen_Alfred_Forbes) subsequently hired Knab as a [scientific illustrator](/source/illustrator), giving his abilities wider exposure.
 
In 1906 Knab accepted a position with the Bureau of Entomology of the [United States Department of Agriculture](/source/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture) in Washington, D.C., and became co-author of the Carnegie Institution-sponsored monograph on mosquitoes in collaboration with [Leland Ossian Howard](/source/Leland_Ossian_Howard) and [Harrison Gray Dyar, Jr.](/source/Harrison_Gray_Dyar%2C_Jr.)<ref name="CB&H"/><ref name="K&P">{{cite web|first1=Kenneth L. |last1=Knight |first2= Ruth B. |last2=Pugh|year= 1974|title= A Bibliography of Mosquito Writings of H. G. Dyar and Frederick Knab|work=  Mosquito Systematics 6(1): 11–24|url= http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/MS06N01P011.pdf|accessdate= January 29, 2012}}</ref>  He became an active member of the [Biological Society of Washington](/source/Biological_Society_of_Washington), served as Vice-President of the Entomological Society of Washington, and was a [fellow](/source/fellow) of the [American Association for the Advancement of Science](/source/American_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science) and the [Entomological Society of America](/source/Entomological_Society_of_America). He began working on a Doctor of Philosophy degree at [George Washington University](/source/George_Washington_University), but the final stages of his illness prevented him from completing the requirements before his death.<ref name="CB&H"/>

Knab died in Washington, D.C. on November 2, 1918, after a long and painful battle with [leishmaniasis](/source/leishmaniasis) contracted during his expedition to Brazil in 1885–1886, which he himself diagnosed through study of the South American medical literature.<ref name="CB&H"/><ref name="MEE">{{cite book|first1=Marc E. |last1=Epstein|year=2016|title= Moths, Myths, and Mosquitoes, The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr..|page= 161|url= https://global.oup.com/academic/product/moths-myths-and-mosquitoes-9780190215255?cc=us&lang=en&|accessdate= April 11, 2018}}</ref> A bibliography of his published works was provided as an addendum to a memorial authored by three of his closest colleagues, [Andrew Nelson Caudell](/source/Andrew_Nelson_Caudell), [August Busck](/source/August_Busck), and [Leland Ossian Howard](/source/Leland_Ossian_Howard) published in 1919.<ref name="CB&H"/>

==References==
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Category:1865 births
Category:1918 deaths
Category:American entomologists
Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frederick Knab](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Knab) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Knab?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.