John E. Casida

John Edward Casida (December 22, 1929 to June 30, 2018) was an American entomologist, toxicologist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he held the William Muriece Hoskins Chair. His research examined the toxicology and mode of action of most major insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, including findings that ryanoid and cyclodiene insecticides disrupt calcium and GABA channels in insect nerve and muscle tissue. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1991 and the Royal Society in 1998, authored more than 850 scientific publications, and received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture in 1993 for his pioneering studies on insecticide mode of action and the design of safer pesticides.