Louis Agassiz
Agassiz, the family name of two scientists, father and son.
(Jean) Louis (Rodolphe) Agassiz (1807–1873), the father, was a Swiss-American naturalist and educator. He was an authority on ichthyology (the study of fish) and geology. Agassiz was the first to set forth the theory, based on his observations of the movement of glaciers, of the earlier existence of a great Ice Age, during which an ice sheet covered much of the Northern Hemisphere. An influential teacher and lecturer, he gave impetus to the study of natural history in the United States. Lake Agassiz was named in his honor.
Louis Agassiz was born in Môtier-en-Vuly, Switzerland. He received a degree in medicine from the University of Munich in 1830, but his major interest was zoology. His first published work was Fishes of Brazil (1829). In 1832 Agassiz became professor of natural history at Neuchâtel. He gained renown for his Researches on Fossil Fishes (5 volumes, 1833–44) and Fresh Water Fishes of Central Europe (1839–42). He studied the glaciers of the Alps with the geographer Arnold Henry Guyot and published his theories in Études sur les Glaciers (1840).
In 1846 Agassiz came to the United States to lecture at the Lowell Institute in Boston. He accepted the chair of natural history at Harvard in 1848, a post he held until his death. He also taught for brief periods at a medical school in Charleston, South Carolina, and at Cornell University. In 1858 Agassiz established the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. A firm believer in divine creation, he was the leading opponent in the United States of Darwin's theory of evolution. He became a United States citizen in 1861. Combining research with teaching, Agassiz made a series of geological and zoological expeditions, 1865–71. He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1915.
His other books include Systéme Glaciaire (1846) and Contributions to the Natural History of the United States (4 volumes, 1857–62).
Alexander Agassiz (1835–1910)the son, was a United States naturalist. After amassing a fortune in copper mining, Agassiz devoted his time and his wealth to zoological research. From 1875 to 1904 he conducted a series of zoological explorations in Caribbean and Pacific waters. These expeditions produced valuable marine animal collections, led to improved techniques of deep-sea research, and provided knowledge of the formation of coral reefs and the configuration of ocean beds and continental shelves.
Alexander Agassiz was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He came to the United States in 1849. After graduating from Harvard in 1855, he received degrees in engineering (1857) and zoology (1862) from Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School. In 1867 Agassiz became superintendent of the Calumet and Hecla copper mines at Lake Superior. He developed them into the most valuable copper mines in the world. From 1872 to 1876 Agassiz helped arrange the collections made during the oceanographic expedition of the British ship Challenger. He served as curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, which his father founded, from 1885 to 1892. He donated more than a million dollars to the museum and was its director from 1902 until his death.
His Writings Include:Seaside Studies in Natural History (1865), with Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, his stepmother; A Revision of the Echini (2 volumes, 1872–74); North American Starfishes (1877).