Austin Hobart Clark

Austin Hobart Clark ( born December 17, 1880 in Wellesley, Massachusetts, † October 28, 1954 in Washington, DC) was an American zoologist. His research included a wide range of subjects, including oceanography, marine biology, ornithology and entomology.

Austin Hobart Clark was born the son of Boston architect Theodore Minot Clark and his coming from France wife Jeannette in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1903, he received his bachelor's degree at Harvard University. He had five children with his first wife Mary Wendell Upham, whom he married on March 6, 1906. Mary died in December 1931, Clark married in 1933 Leila Gay Forbes.

1901 Clark organized a scientific expedition to Isla Margarita in Venezuela. From 1903 to 1905 he was director of research in the West Indies. From 1906 to 1907 he led the research team on the USS Albatross, a steam ship to the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. In 1908 he accepted a post at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, which he held until his retirement in 1950.

Clark had important and different functions in a variety of learned societies, such as President of the Entomological Society of Washington or Vice President of the American Geophysical Union (American Geophysical Association ). In addition, he headed the press service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Clark was the author of over 600 publications, which are written in English, French, Italian, German and Russian. Among his most famous works include Animals of Land and Sea (1925 ), Nature Narratives ( two volumes, 1929 and 1931), The New Evolution (1930 ), Animals Alive ( 1948) and The Butterflies of Virginia (1951, together with his wife Leila Gay Forbes Clark).

Clark was an avowed supporter of the theory of evolution.

Several animal species and genera have been described by Austin Hobart Clark for the first time scientifically, including the Guadeloupe - Ara (1905 ), the Martinique - Amazon ( 1905), the Dominica - Ara (1908), the multi-color Parakeet ( 1910), the crustacean genus Laomenes (1919) or the starfish Copidaster lymani (1948 ).

Quotes

" Since we have no evidence to indicate a transition between fossil and living groups, we should necessarily assume that such intermediate links never existed. " Austin Hobart Clark 1930

Works

  • A history of British butterflies: with FO Morris. 6th edition, London 1890 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.15910
  • A monograph of the existing crinoids. Washington 1915 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.1326
  • Animals of land and sea. New York 1925 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.4878
  • The new evolution; zoogenesis. Baltimore 1930 doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.4537
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