| Authorised form of name | Agassiz; Jean Louis Rodolphe (1807 - 1873); naturalist and geologist |
| Dates | 1807 - 1873 |
| Nationality | American |
| Place of birth | Motier-en-Vuly, Switzerland, Europe |
| Date of birth | 28 May 1807 |
| Place of death | Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, North and Central America |
| Date of death | 14 December 1873 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Bellwort Parth, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America |
| Occupation | Geologist |
| Research field | Ichthyology |
| Geology |
| Palaeontology |
| Activity | Education:
Bienne secondary school; Lausanne; University of Zürich; Heidelberg; University of Erlangen (DPhil 1829); University of Munich (MD 1830)
Career:
Worked on describing a collection of freshwater fish brought back from Johann Baptis von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius' expedition to Brazil (1826-1829); Professor of Natural History at University of Neuchâtel (1832); published 'Recherches sur les poisson fossiles' in five volumes (1833-1843); toured the Biritsh Isles for glacial phenomena with William Buckland (FRS 1818); moved to the United States (1846), where he gave a series of lectures for the Lowell Institute; Professor of Zoology and Geology at Harvard University (1847); founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology (1859) and served as its first director until his death; led a Brazil expedition to further study fish (1865)
Memberships:
American Philosophical Society (1891); Société des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchâtel (founder); Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Foreign Member 1837); American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Foreign Honorary Member 1846) |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 20/12/1838 |
| Age at election | 31 |
| Proposer | William Hasledine Pepys |
| Peter Mark Roget |
| John Forbes Royle |
| William Whewell |
| Stephen Peter Rigaud |
| Charles Wheatstone |
| William Henry Smyth |
| John Walker |
| Francis Baily |
| John George Children |
| Samuel Hunter Christie |
| John Frederic Daniell |
| Davies Gilbert |
| Charles Konig |
| Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, Marquess of Northampton |
| Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton |
| Benjamin Travers |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1861 |
| Relationships | Parents: Louis Rudolphe Agassiz and Rose Mayer
Married: 1) Cecile Braun; 2) Elizabeth Cabot Cary
Children: Ida Higginson (née Agassiz); Pauline Shaw (née Agassiz); Alexander Agassiz (ForMemRS 1891)
Additional relatives: sons-in-law Henry Lee Higginson; Quincy Adams Shaw |
| Published works | RCN: R70540
RCN: 24463
RCN: 24458
RCN: R70487
RCN: 24456
RCN: 24459
RCN: R70475
RCN: R68813
RCN: 17907
RCN: 17906
RCN: R70488
RCN: 24464
RCN: 24454
RCN: 24460
RCN: 24465
RCN: 24448
RCN: 24457 |
| General context | Agassiz came under the tutelage of Alexander von Humboldt (FRS 1815), who later became his benefactor. Agassiz had a profound influence on his areas of scientific research, namely natural sciences especially geology, glaciology and ichthyology. Numerous geological areas and locations are named after him, for example the Agassizhorn in Bernese Alps, Switzerland. Several animal species are also named after him, mainly fish. His much improved classification system of fish, which divided them into four categories, has since been superseded. He was a frequent correspondent and collaborator with a variety of contemporary scientists, e.g. the botanist Asa Gray (FRS 1873), who, unlike Agassiz, was a firm supporter of Darwin's theories on humans' common evolutionary ancestry.
After his move to the United States, Agassiz became a strong proponent of polygenism, believing that all races were created separately and that there existed a set hierarchy of races, with white people, in particular of Germanic or Anglo-Saxon origin at the top and Black people at the bottom. He advocated for racial segregation and called for legislation to prevent mixed race procreation, something he considered sinful. His ideas of scientific racism were frequently used by defenders of slavery. In 1850, he commissioned what are considered the first known photographs of enslaved persons, daguerrotypes depicting Renty Taylor and his daughter Delia. The photographs were then given to Harvard University, who licensed the photos for use in the late 20th century. The University was sued by Tamara Lanier, a descendant of Renty Taylor's, and her lawsuit was supported by 43 living descendants of Agassiz. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DAB; DSB
Iqbal S S. 2021. 'Louis Agassiz, Under a Microscope', in The Harvard Crimson [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/18/louis-agassiz-scrut/; last accessed 23/11/2022]
O'Hagan S. 2022. 'The Swiss mountain with a racist name - and the artist fighting to rechristen it', in The Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/nov/21/swiss-mountain-agassiz-agassizhorn-racist-sasha-huber-hitler-enslaved; last accessed 23/11/2022]
Menand, L. 2001-2002. 'Morton, Agassiz, and the Origins of Scientific Racism in the United States', in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, vol. 34, pp. 110-113
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1876-1877 vol 25 pp xxii-xxx
References:
Corden, J. 2002. 'Web of Science History', in Notes and Records, vol. 56, pp. 383-388 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/14832040 |
| Royal Society code | NA4268 |