William Stimpson
William Stimpson ( born February 14, 1832 in Roxbury, Boston, † May 26 1872 in Ilchester, Maryland) was an American naturalist and zoologist who specialized in marine invertebrate.
Life and work
William Stimpson, was born on February 14, 1832 as the son of Herbert Hathorne Stimpson and Mary Ann Devereau Brewer in Roxbury, a suburb of Boston. At fifteen he read the work Invertebrata of Massachusetts zoologist Augustus Addison Gould. The deepened his awakened since childhood interest in the natural sciences. He spent his school education at Boston High School, which he successfully completed in 1848. In 1849 he gathered clams in eastern Canada. From 1850 to 1852 he studied under Louis Agassiz at Harvard University.
At the age of 21, he took from 1853 to 1856 as a naturalist at the North Pacific Exploring Expedition in part, that led to Japan, Asia and the Bering Strait. He studied and collected during the trip mainly marine molluscs. After his return, presented the Smithsonian Institution for his rich collection facilities available. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed curator of the newly established Department of Invertebrates. During his work at the Smithsonian Institution, in which he classified and described his own and collected by the Institute of marine organisms, he founded the Megatherium Club. Members were, among others, Robert Kennicott, Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, James E. Cooper, John Strong Newberry and Fielding Bradford Meek.
On 28 July 1864 he married Annie Gordon, with whom he had three children. The following year he took over the position of his friend, zoologist Robert Kennicott a director of the Academy of Sciences in Chicago. In preparation for his studies on invertebrates, he enlarged his own collection by lending from the Smithsonian Institution and other scientific collections. In 1868 he is recorded as the youngest member of the National Academy of Sciences.
To a serious setback occurred on October 8, 1871. During Great Fire in Chicago in spite of fireproof construction all the manuscripts and the hitherto largest and most important collection were destroyed in marine invertebrates. From this blow William Stimpson never recovered completely. Nevertheless, he tried to continue his work.
William Stimpson died on 26 May 1872 age of forty years in Ilchester, Maryland to tuberculosis. He published several works, describing the 950 species scientifically.
Honors
In honor of William Stimpson numerous marine animal species were named after him:
- Amphiura stimpsoni
- Americorophium stimpsoni
- Anthothoe stimpsoni
- Bathycongrus stimpsoni
- Beringius stimpsoni
- Colus stimpsoni
- Conus stimpsoni
- Corophium stimpsoni
- Coryphella stimpsoni
- Cuthona stimpsoni
- Eupleura stimpsoni
- Gastrochaena stimpsoni
- Haloclava stimpsoni
- Heptacarpus stimpsoni
- Liomesus stimpsoni
- Munida stimpsoni
- Neocorycodus stimpsoni
- Pagurus stimpsoni
- Panulirus stimpsoni
- Parisocladus stimpsoni
- Placiphorella stimpsoni
- Porcellana stimpsoni
- Sicydium stimpsoni
- Sicyonia stimpsoni
- Sicyopterus stimpsoni
- Solaster stimpsoni
- Stilifer stimpsoni
- Thracia stimpsoni
- Transennella stimpsoni
- Troglocarcinus stimpsoni
- Truncatella stimpsoni
- Turbonilla stimpsoni
- Turritellopsis stimpsoni
Works
A selection of his works:
- A revision and synonymy of the Mestraceous Mollusks of New England ( 1851)
- Synopsis of the Marine Invertebrata of Grand Manan (1853 )
- Notes on North American Crustacea (1859 )