Alexander Agassiz

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Alexander Emanuel Agassiz

Alexander Em (m) anuel Rodolph Agassiz (born December 17, 1835 in Neuchâtel / Switzerland ; † March 27, 1910 on the Adriatic (II) of the United States on the way from Southampton to New York ) was a Swiss-American geologist and anatomist . He was Professor of Zoology at Harvard University and Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology , now known as the Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology . He is the son of Louis Agassiz and the stepson of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz .

life and work

In 1849 he emigrated to the USA with his father Louis Agassiz. There he began studying engineering and chemistry, which he completed with a Bachelor of Science from the Lawrence Scientific School. He then worked until 1859 as an assistant at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey . In 1862 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1866 to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1875 to the American Philosophical Society . From 1865 to 1869 he studied biology at Harvard University . In 1882 Agassiz was elected a member of the Leopoldina , in 1886 a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and 1887 of the Académie des Sciences . Since 1897 he was an honorary member ("Honorary Fellow") of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

In 1902 he received the order Pour le Mérite of the Sciences and Arts.

Like his father, Alexander Agassiz was a specialist in ichthyology . As superintendent and geologist, he was responsible for copper mines. He led larger American expeditions, for example to the copper mines of Peru and Chile in 1875 . The marine expeditions brought him to the West Indies , the Fiji Islands , Panama , Galápagos Islands , Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, among others .

His father Louis Agassiz founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology . Alexander Agassiz took over the management of the museum from him until 1880 together with Louis-François de Pourtalès , but - in contrast to his father - he was oriented towards the Darwinian worldview . He devoted a large part of his work to evolutionary research .

Alexander Agassiz was President of the National Academy of Sciences from 1901 to 1907 . The Alexander Agassiz Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, which has been awarded for achievements in oceanography since 1913, is named in his honor .

Alexander Agassiz Professorships

The Alexander Agassiz Professorship in Zoology at Harvard University is considered a prestigious position. The professorships had, among others:

Publications

literature

  • GL Goodale: Biographical memoir of Alexander Agassiz 1835-1910. In: Nat. Acad. Sciences Biographical memoirs , Part of Vol. 7
  • AH Duppen: Alexander Agassiz. In: Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Charles Scribner's Son, New York, 1970, Part 1, pp. 71-72.
  • RR Agassiz: Alexander Agassiz. Letters and Recollections of Alexander Agassiz: With a Sketch of his Life and Work , Mifflin Comp., 1913 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.22462 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.53450

Web links

Commons : Alexander Emanuel Agassiz  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ A. von Humboldt, I. Schwarz: Alexander von Humboldt and the United States of America: Correspondence. Akademie Verlag, 2004, p. 394. ISBN 3-05-002776-2
  3. ↑ Member entry of Alexander Agassiz at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ Member entry by Alexandre Emanuel Agassiz (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 3, 2016.
  5. ↑ shaper RSE Fellows 1783-2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Swiss Hall of Fame: Swiss celebrities from over 2000 years
  7. ^ Agassiz, Alexander ( Memento from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Heidelberg University of Education.
  8. ↑ U. Kutschera: Biologen heute 4, 18-19, 2002 , University of Kassel
  9. ↑ Obituary for Ernst Mayr (PDF; 48 kB)
  10. ^ Phyllodrom, circular of the society for the establishment of an institute and museum for rain forest ecology eV. Obituary Stephen Jay Gould
  11. ↑ George V. Lauder, Professor of Biology Curator of Ichthyology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology ( Memento from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Agassiz, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Agassiz, Alexander Em (m) anuel Rodolph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss-American geologist and anatomist
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuchâtel
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1910
Place of death on the Adriatic (II)