The three individuals pictured here have contributed nearly 100 years of effort to researching and writing about earthworms. Mary Appelhof of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA wrote and popularized small-scale vermicomposting through her 1982 publication,Worms Eat My Garbage. Professor Anatoly Igonin from Vladimir, Russia, developed the ?Staratel? worm through selective breeding. He wrote the book popular with the general public, Earthworms: Methods of improving soil?s fertility with assistance of the earthworm ten times as much. Originally from England, Dr. Clive Edwards has been with Ohio State University in USA since 1985. He co-authored the major general text on earthworms, Biology of Earthworms, in 1977. It is now in its third revision as Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. He has written over 300 papers and authored, co-authored, or edited some 28 books.