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Alpheus Hyatt (April 5, 1838 – January 15, 1902) was an American
After the war he worked for a time at the Essex Institute (now the
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyatt, Alpheus 1838 births 1902 deaths Harvard University alumni Yale University alumni American paleontologists 19th-century American zoologists American marine biologists Lamarckism Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Boston Society of Natural History Scientists from Washington, D.C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Boston University faculty
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
and palaeontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
.
Biography
Alpheus Hyatt II was born in Washington, D.C. to Alpheus Hyatt and Harriet Randolph (King) Hyatt. He briefly attended the Maryland Military Academy andYale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, and after graduating from Harvard University in 1862, he enlisted as a private in the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry for the Civil War, emerging with the rank of captain.
After the war he worked for a time at the Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...
in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
. He and a colleague founded ''American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance t ...
'' and Hyatt served as editor from 1867 to 1870. He became a professor of paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
and zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
in 1870, where he taught for eighteen years, and was professor of biology and zoology at Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
from 1877 until his death in 1902. He also served as curator of the Boston Society of Natural History
The Boston Society of Natural History (1830–1948) in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the s ...
, where his longtime assistant was his former student Jennie Maria Arms Sheldon
Jennie Maria Arms Sheldon (July 29, 1852 – January 15, 1938) was an American entomologist, educator, historian, author, and museum curator. She worked closely with zoologist Alpheus Hyatt at the Boston Society of Natural History, and she was th ...
, and he established a laboratory at the Norwood-Hyatt House
The Norwood-Hyatt House is a historic house at 704 Washington Street in the Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is notable as one of the oldest houses in Gloucester, and for its association with Alpheus Hyatt, who did research in marine biology here ...
in 1879 for the study of Marine Biology in Annisquam Annisquam is a waterfront village in the Gloucester, Massachusetts, city of Gloucester, on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Massachusetts. It is a few miles across Cape Ann from downtown Gloucester.
History
The name "Annisquam" come ...
, Massachusetts. The River Road building gave him access to the Annisquam River, a salt water estuary. This enterprise was moved to Woods Hole and became the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
in 1888.
Hyatt studied under Louis Agassiz and was a proponent of Neo-Lamarckism
Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...
with Edward Drinker Cope. In 1869, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected him a fellow and in 1875, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1898, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Brown University.
He and his wife, Audella Beebe, were the parents of famed sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington
Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (March 10, 1876 – October 4, 1973) was an American sculptor who was among New York City's most prominent sculptors in the early 20th century. At a time when very few women were successful artists, she had a thrivi ...
; their other children were Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor, who was also a sculptor though less well known, (and mother of the art historian A. Hyatt Mayor
Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints.
A. Hyatt Mayor's father was marine biologist Alfre ...
), and Alpheus Hyatt III.
Publications
* * * * * * * *References
External links
* * *National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyatt, Alpheus 1838 births 1902 deaths Harvard University alumni Yale University alumni American paleontologists 19th-century American zoologists American marine biologists Lamarckism Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Boston Society of Natural History Scientists from Washington, D.C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Boston University faculty