Edward Yarnall Hartshorne, Jr. (name pronounced Heart's horn: 1912 – August 30, 1946 in Germany) was the principal education officer in the American Military Government responsible for the reopening of the German universities in the U.S. occupation zone after World War II.
In 1938 he joined other Harvard scientists in gathering numerous personal accounts from refugees who had escaped from Nazi Germany.
In April 1945 he seized the chance of leading an investigative team into Germany searching for head of Nazi party publishing Max Amann.
These medical schools turned out to be the loophole for the conservation of German universities as a whole which according to standing orders should have been completely closed down.
After the Land Greater Hesse had been proclaimed Hartshorne became in charge of higher education there (universities at Frankfurt, Giessen, and Marburg) in October.
On 28 August 1946, on the Munich-to-Erlangen autobahn, his car was overtaken by a Jeep, which suddenly slowed down in front of him, forcing him to overtake it in turn.