The resignation of Professor Winthrop John VanLeuven Osterhout as professor of botany at the University was announced yesterday. It will become effective on September 1, 1925. Professor Osterhout resigns to become head of the division of general physiology of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, of which he has been a director since 1920.

Is Away For First Half This Year

For the first half of this year (1924-25) Dr. Osterhout will be on leave of absence in Bermuda, leaving Cambridge about November 1, and returning in time to give instruction in his College courses the second half year.

Professor Osternout came to Harvard as an assistant professor of botany in 1909. He graduated from Brown University in 1893 and received his master's degree from the same institution a year later. He then spent two years at the University of Bonn and returned to this country to receive his degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of California in 1899. He served as instructor in botany at Brown University and at Woods Hole, Mass, until he went to the University of California again in 1901. During the next eight years he remained there, becoming an associate professor in 1907. Two years later he came to the University as an assistant professor and was made a full professor in 1913.

His New Book Appears Soon

His first book, "Experiments with Plants", appeared in 1905, and was translated into German four years later. Dr. Osterhout has published a number of other books, is a contributor to botanical, physiological, and biochemical periodicals, and has been joint editor of the Journal of General Physiology since 1919. His most recent book, "The Nature of Life", published by Holt, is to appear within a few days.

Professor Osterhout is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and numerous other scientific organizations, as well as being an honorary member of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Scotland.