Louis Agassiz, 1807-1873Louis Agassiz, 1807-1873
born 28 May,1807, Friborg Switzerland
died 14 December,1873, Cambridge, MA
Like many of the 19th century naturalists, Agassiz was educated in the medical tradition and qualified as a physician. He developed a keen interest in natural history at an early age. Attended the University of Zürich 1824, Heidelberg 1826, and suffered a severe case of typhoid fever in 1827, returning to Switzerland to recover. Attended University of Munich 1827-1830, where he studied under Oken, Martius , and Döllinger. Was an accomplished swordsman; the sabre his weapon of choice. Received the Ph.D. in the spring of 1829 from the Univ. of Erlangen. In 1827, following the death of Spix in 1826, Martius gave his collections of Amazonian fishes to Agassiz for study, encouraging that he complete study for the Ph.D. Received the medical degree in April, 1830, 9 months after the publication of the Fishes of Brazil , which attracted the attention of Cuvier. In 1829 the director of the natural history museum in Munich offered Agassiz the ability to work on a collection of fossil fishes. With Joseph Dinkel as his artist, he began work on Poissons Fossiles . Arrived in Paris in November, 1831 to study comparative anatomy under Cuvier, who provided space in his lab for Agassiz and his assistants. Agassiz made such an impression on Cuvier that he abandoned, in favor of Agassiz, plans for a major work on fossil fishes, releasing his materials, drawings and notes. Agassiz quickly developed a reputation throughout Europe. Humboldt , for example, contributed 1000 francs toward publication of Poissons Fossiles. Agassiz left Paris in September 1832 following the death of Cuvier in May, accepting a modest position as professor of natural history at the Lyceum of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where he developed his ideas on continental glaciation and earth history.
It was during these years in Switzerland that Agassiz developed his strong reputation as a scientist and lecturer, and developed the personal associations with colleagues and assistants that would persist throughout his career. Agassiz very much aspired to follow in Cuvier's footsteps, however, while Cuvier was extremely directed and efficient, making geat use of his assistants, Agassiz always failed at properly managing them. This period in his life was notable for the number of projects and publications that Agassiz embarked upon, not all of which were completed, and for the large entourage that he assembled, all of which were under his personal financial support. Expenses began to greatly exceed his modest salary and the philanthropy of friends and family. Realizing that his present position could not afford him the means of achieving his professional ambitions, he decided to seek a change by embarking on a tour of first Europe, then the United States.
After a brief stay with a cousin in New York, Agassiz travelled widely in the U.S., visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, and Charleston. Upon his return to New York, he was met by his assistants Edward Desor and Charles Girard, and they established residence in Boston in April 1847 and joined by his former artist Burkhardt in November. In January 1848, Agassiz was approached by John A. Lowell about accepting a professorship at Harvard College, a position in zoology and geology created for him by Abbott Lawrence, which he accepted. June 30 to August 15 1848 explored Lake Superior, resulted in the publication Lake Superior: Its Physical Character, Vegetation and Animals, Compared with those of Other and Similar Regions, March 1850. Upon his return, learned of the the death of his wife at Baden on 27 July 1848 .
Upon his return from an extended visit to Philadelphia, researching at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and the Academy of Natural Sciences, Agassiz was remarried to Elizabeth C. Cary of Boston in the spring of 1850. She took over the household, now complete upon the arrival of the children from Switzerland, and became an invaluable scientific assistant. Agassiz visited Charleston four times between 1847 and 1852 as adjuct professor at the medical College, contracting a severe case of malaria in 1852, from which he barely recovered. Moved his household from Oxford Street to Quincy in 1853. There Mrs. Agassiz opened a school for girls and the income it generated greatly helped to offset the growing expenses. In 1855 began the subscription series Contributions to the Natural History of the United States. In August 1857, Agassiz was offered the chair of paleontology at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, which he declined.
In May 1860, the first phase of construction on the Museum of Comparative Zoology was completed. A detailed history of the MCZ was provided by Windsor (1987). Agassiz's collection were transfered from the small wooden house, which was later moved and renovated to become the eventual Zoological Hall for the use of students and assistants at the museum. The MCZ was inaugurated November 13, 1860. Soon after, due in part to mounting financial pressures, discontent among his students and assistants, Agassiz's health slowly began to fade. Agassiz tried in vain to stop the sweep of Darwinism, and was most distressed by the fact that, with the exception of Asa Gray, most proponents of Darwinian thinking in the U.S. at that time were not naturalists. A parallel can be drawn between Agassiz's opposition to Darwinism and Cuvier's debate with Geoffroy-St. Hillaire. The American Civil War was yet another obstacle in the building of the museum and Agassiz lost several students to military service. In part, as an escape from the mounting pressures, and because of declining health since the Charleston malaria episode, Agassiz sought with much relish the opportunity to visit Brazil and rekindle his long-standing intretest in Amazonian ichthyology begun during work on the collections of Spix & Martius. Agassiz, his wife, six assistants and several volunteers embarked on the Thayer Expedition to Brazil between April 1865 and July 1866.
After the Thayer Expedition, during the spring of 1869, Agassiz participated in the deep-sea dredging project of the U.S. Coast Survey, and in 1871 participated in the Hassler Expedition to conduct deep-sea dredging along the coast from New England to San Francisco, also accompanied by F. Steindachner . Steindachner first came to Cambridge in May, 1870 to assist Agassiz for 2 years in the curation of fishes from the Thayer Expedition. Steindachner returned to Vienna in 1872. In 1873 Agassiz founded the Anderson School of Natural History at Penikese Island off the southern coast of Massachusetts. Although it did not survive long after Agassiz's death, the school was a point of contact between Agassiz and several notable students, including C.O. Whitman and D.S. Jordan.
Agassiz's last day at the museum was December 6, 1873. Agassiz's grave at Mount Auburn is marked by a 2500 lb. granite boulder transported from the Aar glacial moraine near his original home.
Thayer Expedition to Brazil, 1865- 1866
Last modified:
27.iii.97
Scott A. Schaefer schaefer@amnh.org