Jacob Whitman Bailey

Jacob Whitman Bailey (born April 29, 1811 in Auburn (Massachusetts) , † February 26, 1857 ) was an American naturalist and pioneer of microscopy and the study of algae in the United States. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Bailey ".

Bailey graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1832 (fifth in his class) and was, after two years as a lieutenant in the artillery, from 1834 professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology at West Point. He held the post until his death.

He constructed and improved microscopes and collected microscopic objects such as algae and microfossils. He corresponded with Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg . His collection went to the Boston Society of Natural History.

He married Maria Slaughter in 1835 and had a son and a daughter. Bailey was one of the passengers in the sinking of the steamship Henry Clay on the Hudson River , which caught fire and sank at Yonkers. Before that he was able to save his wife and two children overboard. One of the many victims of the accident was former New York City Mayor Stephen Allen .

In 1857 he was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . In 1845 he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

literature

• Biography of Stanley Coulter in Botanical Gazette, Volume 13, 1888, 118-124, JSTOR