"A teacher affects eternity," wrote historian Henry Adams. "He can never tell where his influence stops." While eternity is, by definition, impossible to assess, one University of Nevada professor has built a vast empire of scholarly influence which will carry on as long as civilization itself. Now, after 43 years, he is hanging up his hat. Meet Dr. Gary Blomquist, a scientist who has spent over half a century prying into the private lives of animals. In 1969, he published his first of over 200 papers on the chemical messages exchanged in the previously inscrutable world of insect communication. While this may sound esoteric, consider that his works have been cited over 14,000 times in subsequent research. Armed with a Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry from Montana State University, the Michigan native found work as an assistant professor at the University of Nevada. With an interest in bark beetles dating back to summers spent working in Michigan forests, Blomquist enlisted his students to help investigate the horribly destructive, forest-killing insects in forests near the Reno university. "My favorite days at the University were the days where we could bring students up to Little Valley where we would cut beetle infested trees to bring them back to our lab," reminisces Blomquist. "It was always fun to be in the forest and show the students, hands-on, where the insects we were studying live." While training students on the finer points of the scientific method, Blomquist never forgot to have a little fun. The world-class scientist was known to stage ping-pong tournaments with his classes. "Gary is extremely positive, upbeat and also very knowledgeable," says administrator and former student Claus Tittiger. "He fostered this culture of everyone being important and worthy of respect." While Blomquist is done teaching, he will continue researching and publishing. His contributions to scholarship live on, however, not only in his vast body of work, but in the generations of minds he refined and launched in the sea of learning. Now, with more time on his hands, perhaps professor emeritus Gary Blomquist can find a way to distract those pesky bark beetles from their destructive ways. Who better to use their chemical cues to teach them how to play ping-pong instead?

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