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Olaf Larsell was considered a prominent educator and author in the field of anatomy and won international fame for his research on the cerebellum. He was a noted researcher on the structures of the brain, nervous system, sinuses, and lungs. Larsell earned his undergraduate degree at McMinnville College, now known as Linfield College, in 1910, an MA at Northwestern in Evansville Illinois in 1914 and a PhD. in philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1918. In 1937, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Linfield College.

He served as an instructor of biology at Linfield (1910), taught zoology at Northwestern (1915-1918), and was an Associate Professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin (1918-1920). He served as Associate Professor at Northwestern in 1920 and accepted an appointment at the University of Oregon Medical School in 1921 as a Professor of anatomy. He held this position until 1952. In 1952, Larsell moved to Minnesota to become a Professor of neuroanatomy at the University of Minnesota, serving in the role until 1954. He then spent a year at the University of Oslo in Norway on a Fulbright Fellowship before returning to Portland to continue his research on the cerebellum at Good Samaritan Hospital.

In addition to publishing numerous journal articles, he published several books, two of the most notable being The Doctor In Oregon: A Medical History [Portland: Binsford and Mort for the Oregon Historical Society, 1947] and the three-volume set of The Comparative Anatomy and Histology of the Cerebellum [Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1967, 1970, 1972.] The last of the three volumes was not complete at the time of Larsell's death, so Dr. Jan Jensen of Norway, editor of the first two volumes and a world renowned expert on the anatomy of the brain, completed the book. Larsell also authored a chapter entitled "Anatomy of the Nervous System" for Sir Henry Morris' Human Anatomy, with illustrations by Clarice Ashworth, noted medical illustrator at the University of Oregon Medical School.

Larsell also served as Dean of the Graduate Division of the Oregon State System of Higher Education from 1938 to 1946, was a member of the editorial board for The Journal of Comparative Neurology, consulting editor for The Journal of History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, and trustee and president of the Board of Trustees at Linfield College. Known for his enduring energy, at 78 years of age, he was working on the final chapter of his monumental monograph on the cerebellum and continuing unfinished neurological research when he died on April 8, 1964.