Oscar Harger (January 12, 1843 – November 6, 1887) was an American invertebrate zoologist and

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

known for his studies on

isopods Isopoda is an Order (biology), order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called isopods and include both Aquatic animal, aquatic species and Terrestrial animal, terrestrial species such as woodlice. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons ...

, and for his work as an paleontological assistant to

Othniel Charles Marsh Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of paleontology. A prolific fossil collector, Marsh was one of the preeminent paleontologists of the nineteenth century. Among his legacies are the discovery or ...

. Harger, the son of Alfred Harger, a farmer and land surveyor of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

descent, was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

New Haven County New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's five largest cities, New Ha ...

, Conn, January 12, 1843. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1868. He was obliged throughout his college course to maintain himself by teaching and mathematical work, and he perhaps injured his health permanently by the severe economy which he practiced at that time. In his boyhood he had been an enthusiastic student of botany, and his success in this department of natural history led him on graduation to take up the study of zoology with Professor Verrill of the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale University, Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Jos ...

. He had already shown his special aptitude for original work and had begun important investigations, when he accepted in 1870 the position of Assistant in Paleontology under Professor

Marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

, which he retained until his death. He continued, however, his investigations in invertebrate zoology, as long as his health allowed; of his publications in this field the most important is a valuable "Report on the Marine Isopoda of New England and the Adjacent Waters" (in the ''Report of the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries'' for 1878). His best work and highest attainments, however, were in the department of vertebrate paleontology. In 1879 he was attacked by cardiac trouble, which increased from year to year. He continued engaged in his regular duties, until prostrated by cerebral hemorrhage on Monday, October 31, 1887. He died on the following Sunday, November 6, in his 45th year. He married, May 13, 1875, Jessie Craig, of

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

, who survived him without children. He is commemorated in the genus '' Hargeria'', a fossil bird, and the species '' Miacis hargeri'', an extinct carnivorous mammal.

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* * 1843 births 1887 deaths American carcinologists American paleontologists American zoologists People from Oxford, Connecticut Yale College alumni Sheffield Scientific School faculty {{US-zoologist-stub