Background
Niels Ebbesen Hansen was born in the village of Fardrup, in Ribe County, Denmark. He was the son of Danish-born muralist Andreas Hansen and Bodil Midtgaard.
Niels Ebbesen Hansen was born in the village of Fardrup, in Ribe County, Denmark. He was the son of Danish-born muralist Andreas Hansen and Bodil Midtgaard.
At the age of seventeen he entered Iowa State College from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Surgery in horticulture in 1887. He was induced to return to Iowa State, where he was awarded his Master of Science degree in 1895.
In practical horticulture, commercial Iowa nurseries, 1888-1891. Assistant professor horticulture, Iowa Agricultural College, 1891-1895. Professor horticulture, South Dakot Agricultural College and Experiment Station, 1895-1937, professor emeritus of horticulture since 1937.
Spent 4 months, 1894, in horticultural study in 8 countries of Europe, including Russia.
Made 10 months’ exploration trip, 1897-1898, for United States Department of Agriculture, collecting new economic seeds and plants in Russia, Turkestan, Western China, Siberia, Transcaucasia. Made 6 months’ exploration, 1906, for United States Department of Agriculture around the world through Lapland, Finland, Russia, Siberia, Manchuria and Japan.
Made 9 months’ exploration, 1908-1909, for United States Department of Agriculture to Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Turkestan, Transcaucasia and North. Africa. Went to North China (Manchuria) for State of South Dakot, 1924.
Delegate International Congress Horticulture, London, 1930.
Originator new fruits, especially the Hansen hybrid plums, now extensively grown in the West. Introduced the Turkestan, Siberian and many other alfalfas. Also introduced and named the Cossack alfalfa, now widely grown in the prairie Northwest, developing from a spoonful of seed in 1906 to over one thousand bushels of seed in 1916.
Originated a method of field hybridization of hardy alfalfas by transplanting.
Made 5 months’ exploration for alfalfa for South Dakot in Siberia, 1913. Also imported the Siberian fat-rumped sheep from which Director James West. Wilson developed a tailless breed of sheep.
Made exploration tour of 4 months, 1934, at invitation of the Soviet government, to East Siberia, with son, Carl A., as technical assistant. A program of experiments in horticulture and agriculture, covering 100 points, was completed March 1935, and published in 4000 copies by the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1937.
Quotations: "Mr. Etter, you have defeated me in my destiny.".
Hansen was a member of the International Jury of Horticulture at the World"s Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1904 and a United States delegate to the First International Congress of Genetics in London, England in 1906.
Married Emma Elise Pammel, November 16, 1898 (died December 16, 1904). Married second, Dora Sophie Pammel, August 27, 1907. Children: Eva Pammel (Mistress David L. Gilkerson), Carl Andreas.