[1][2] An army veteran of the Korean War, Farnsworth served as a Private First Class and eventually as a Corporal in the Third Infantry Division, Seventh Regimental Combat Team, nicknamed the "Fire Brigade" in Korea.
Because of his service during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, he received the Bronze Star Medal with a "V" device, which is the U. S. military's fourth-highest award for valor.
He was also the founding director of the Program for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago.
Afterwards, the National Academy of Sciences published "Herbal Pharmacology in the People’s Republic of China.
[2] Farnsworth was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional Medicine.