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Frank Olson was born in 1910 to Olaf and Anna Olson in the town of Hurley. He was an exceptional student and graduated from Hurley High School in 1927. He went on to the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he distinguished himself as an honors student in the study of agriculture. He briefly worked as a substitute teacher in Hurley but returned to Madison and earned a Ph.D. in bacteriology in 1938. It was in Madison that he entered the R.O.T.C. and earned a commission in the army, although he remained on the inactive list. He went on to Purdue University in Indiana where he taught while continuing his research in agronomy. He married Alice Wicks of Eau Claire in 1940.