George Brown Goode

George Brown Goode ( born February 13, 1851 in New Albany, Indiana, † September 6, 1896 in Washington DC) was an American ichthyologist.

Life

George Brown Goode was born on February 13, 1851 in New Albany. His mother died after his first year of life. After the remarriage of his father, the family moved in 1857 Amenia. During his childhood he enjoyed a private education. In 1866, he studied natural science at Wesleyan University and graduated in 1870. Subsequently, he went for a short time at Harvard University and studied under Louis Agassiz. He then took over the management of the Museum of Natural History at Wesleyan University and was voluntarily working for the U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries.

During his tenure at the U.S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries, he met Spencer Fullerton Baird 1872, with whom he shared a deep friendship over time. From 1873 the two worked closely together at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1877, Goode got there a full-time job, first as an assistant and later as a curator. After Baird's death George Brown Goode took over the management of the Institute.

George Brown Goode took only a few expeditions. He mainly worked as an administrator at various museums. He explored at three scientific expeditions the deep sea, and among other chimeras, flatfish and halibut. In addition to his passion for Ichthyology he was interested in the historical history of science, especially at the historical development of science in North America.

He was on 13 January 1888 the founding members of the National Geographic Society.

On September 6, 1896 George Brown Goode died at the age of 45 in Washington DC of pneumonia.

Aftermath

The zoologist David Starr Jordan in 1880 named the genus Goodea from the family of Goodeids ( Goodeidae ) after him. This also results in the scientific name of the family.

Other species that were named after George Brown Goode are:

• Stachelfisch ( Ptilichthys goodei )
• Lucania goodei
• Myliobatis goodei
• Paralonchurus goodei
• Sebastes goodei
• Trachinotus goodei

Works (selection)

• The Natural and Economical History of the American menhaden (1879 )
• Catalog of the Fishes of the Bermudas (1876 )
• The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States ( 1887)
• American Fishes (1888 )
• Oceanic Ichthyology (1896; along with Tarleton Hoffman Bean)