Rosa Smith Eigenmann (October 7, 1858 – January 12, 1947) was an American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of O ...

(the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish), as well as a writer, editor, former curator at the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...

, and the first librarian of the

San Diego Society of Natural History The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and ...

. She "is considered the first woman ichthyologist in the United States." Eigenmann was also the first woman to become president of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

's chapter of

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

, an honorary science society. She authored twelve published papers of her own between 1880 and 1893, and collaborated with her husband,

Carl H. Eigenmann Carl Henry Eigenmann (March 9, 1863 – April 24, 1927) was a German-American ichthyologist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who, along with his wife Rosa Smith Eigenmann, and his zoology students is credited with identifyin ...

, as "Eigenmann & Eigenmann" on twenty-five additional works between 1888 and 1893. Together, they are credited with describing about 150 species of fishes.

Early life and education

Rosa Smith was born on October 7, 1858, in

Monmouth, Illinois Monmouth is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,902 at the 2020 census, down from 9,444 in 2010. It is the home of Monmouth College and contains Monmouth Park, Harmon Park, North Park, Wa ...

, the youngest of Lucretia (Gray) and Charles Kendall Smith's nine children. Smith's parents, originally from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, had moved to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

to begin publishing a newspaper. Charles Kendall Smith founded the ''Monmouth Atlas'' in 1846, but sold it in 1857.Hubbs, Carl L., "Rosa Smith Eigenmann," in Seeking a warmer climate for family health reasons, the Smiths moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in 1876 and settled in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

."Rosa Smith Eiganmann" in ''Women in Science: A Selection of 16 Significant Contributors'', p. 15. Smith completed her secondary education at the Point Loma Seminary in San Diego."Descriptive Entry" in Smith also attended a five-week course at a business college in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, where she was one of only two women in the class. (The other was

Kate Sessions Katherine Olivia "Kate" Sessions (November 8, 1857 – March 24, 1940) was an American botanist, horticulturalist, and landscape architect closely associated with San Diego, California, and known as the "Mother of Balboa Park." Smith had a lifelong interest in natural history. She began by observing and collecting bird and animal speciment in California and joined the San Diego Society of Natural History (

San Diego Natural History Museum The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and th ...

) in 1878 as an associate member. Smith became the first woman with full membership in the Society in 1879, and also served as the Society's librarian and recording secretary for several years during the 1880s. Smith met

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

, a noted

from

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

, while he was visiting San Diego in 1879. The circumstances of their meeting are uncertain, but Jordan may have heard Smith read her paper at a meeting of the San Diego Society of Natural History about a new species of fish. At about this time, she had discovered the

blind goby The blind goby (''Typhlogobius californiensis'') is a species of fish in the goby family, the only species in the genus ''Typhlogobius''. It is native to the coastlines of southern California in the United States and Baja California in Mexico, wh ...

''Othonops eos'' living in caves underneath Point Loma Peninsula. Jordan was impressed and encouraged her to continue her studies as one of his zoology students at IU. Smith accepted Jordan's offer, and spent the summer of 1880 touring

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with Jordan and some of his colleagues and students. After returning to the United States, she spent two years studying at IU before an illness in the family caused her to return to San Diego in 1882 without earning an

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

Marriage and family

Smith met fellow IU student

, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

scientist who was pursuing a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

degree in

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Oct ...

, through her studies with professor Jordan. Eigenmann corresponded with Smith while she was living in San Diego and also traveled to California, where the couple were married at Smith's home on August 20, 1887. The Eigenmanns had five children. Lucretia Margaretha Eigenmann (1889–1965), the eldest, was mentally disabled; their only son, Theodore Smith Eigenmann (1893–1970), later became institutionalized after serving in the army in 1918. Although family responsibilities prevented her from pursuing her own research, she continued to work as an editor on her husband's papers. The three other Eigenmann's children pursued professional careers. Charlotte Elizabeth Eigenmann (1891-1959) graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

and pursued an editorial career. Adele Rosa (Eigenmann) Eiler (1896-1978) accompanied her father on the Irwin Expedition to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

in 1918-1919, and received a medical degree from Indiana University in 1921. Adele and her husband, John Oliver Eiler, later moved to San Diego. Thora Marie Eigenmann (1901-1968), a graduate of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, became a writer. Rosa Eigenmann bore most of the family responsibilities for raising their children, although she continued to collaborate on scientific research with her husband. Family responsibilities also prevented her from pursuing her own research after 1893, but she continued to work with her husband as an editor of his research papers.

Career

Around 1879 Smith discovered

(''Othonops eos'') living in underwater caves at San Diego's Point Loma Peninsula. The discovery led to her additional training in the natural sciences at Indiana University and launched her work as an ichthyologist. Smith published her first articles in 1880, which included "On the occurrence of a species of Cremnobates at San Diego, California," in the ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'', and ''A list of fish of San Diego California'' (1880), which was submitted to the San Diego Society of Natural History. The

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...

also published several of Smith's articles.Hubbs, "Eigenmann, Rosa Smith," in ''Notable American Women 1607–1950'', p. 565. After returning to San Diego from Bloomington, Indiana, in 1882, she focused on publishing formal descriptions of the blind goby and other species of fishes. By the age of twenty-eight, several of her papers had been published in the ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum''. In addition, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

had asked her to make a collection of surf perch from the San Diego area. With her family's involvement in newspaper publishing in California, it is not surprising that she also worked as a journalist, becoming a reporter for the ''San Diego Union'', possibly its first woman reporter, while continuing to write and edit scholarly papers. Following Smith's marriage to Carl Eigenmann in 1887, the couple immediately left for

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, where they studied the Agassiz collections of South American fishes and collaborated on research. The Eigenmanns also spent the summer of 1888 at

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 ...

, the site of a U.S. Fish Commission station. Their first collaboration, a study of South American freshwater fishes that were in the collections at Harvard, was published in 1888 as "A list of the American species of Gobiidae and Callionymidae, with notes on the specimens contained in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Massachusetts," as well as "Preliminary notes on South American Nematognathi" which appeared in the ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'', and "South American Nematognathi" in the ''American Naturalist''. In addition to collaborating on research with her husband, she was granted special student status at Harvard to study

cryptogam A cryptogam (scientific name Cryptogamae) is a plant (in the wide sense of the word) or a plant-like organism that reproduces by spores, without flowers or seeds. The name ''Cryptogamae'' () means "hidden reproduction", referring to the fact ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

with

William G. Farlow William Gilson Farlow (December 17, 1844 – June 3, 1919) was an American botanist, born in Boston, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard (A.B., 1866; M.D., 1870), where, after several years of European study, he became adjunct professor of bo ...

in 1887–88. After their return to California in 1889, the Eigenmanns established a biological station in San Diego and continued their studies of fish in the region. The Eigenmanns also held appointments as curators at the

. In 1891, after David Starr Jordan left his position at Indiana University to become chancellor of Stanford University, Eigenmann's husband, Carl, replaced Jordan as professor of zoology at IU and the Eigenmanns returned to Bloomington, Indiana. Carl Eigenmann was later named chair of the zoology department, and in 1908 he became the first Dean of the Graduate School. Rosa Eigenmann authored twelve published papers on her own between 1880 and 1893 and co-authored another twenty-five more with her husband, Carl, including notable works on fresh-water fishes in South America and on various species of fishes in western North America. Due to their research and publication, "the Eigenmann and Eigenmann authority" became well known throughout the ichthyological community. Eigenmann was proud of women's academic accomplishments, but she felt that women in science had not received proper recognition because there were so few women working in the sciences. As she told the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association in 1891: "In science as everywhere else in the domain of thought, woman should be judged by the same standard as her brother. Her work must not simply be well done for a woman."

Later years

Eigenmann's last co-authored publication with her husband, Carl, was "Preliminary descriptions of new fishes from the Northwest," which appeared in the ''American Naturalist'' (1893). After her retirement from active research in 1893 to care for her family, she continued to edit her husband's papers on research topics that included fishes of the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

, blind cave vertebrates from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and southern Indiana, and South America's freshwater fishes. In 1893 she also delivered a lecture at the Smithsonian Museum on the topic of women in science, which was later published. In addition, she served as president of The National Science Club for Women in 1895. Eigenmann's husband, Carl, never fully recovered from his high altitude expeditions in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

in 1918, which weakened his health. In 1926 the Eigenmanns left Indiana and returned to San Diego. Carl Eigenmann suffered a stroke in a year later, and died on April 24, 1927. Rosa Eigenmann continued to live in the San Diego area Coronado, California, following her husband's death, but she was no longer scientifically active.

Death and legacy

Rosa Smith Eigenmann died on January 12, 1947, in San Diego, California, of chronic

myocarditis Myocarditis, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy due to inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased ability to exercise, and an irregular heartbeat. Th ...

, which followed a series of difficult eye operations. Her remains are buried in San Diego's Greenwood Memorial Park cemetery. David Starr Jordan, who was Eigenmann’s former professor, credited Eigenmann and her husband, Carl, with identifying 35 new genera, and others have credited the couple with providing the initial descriptions of nearly 150 species of fishes. She was also the first woman to become president of the Indiana University's chapter of Sigma Xi, an honorary science society.

Published works

Authored: * ''A list of the fishes of San Diego, California'' (San Diego, California: privately published, 1880) (List was submitted to the San Diego Society of Natural History, November 5, 1880.) * "On the occurrence of a species of Cremnobates at San Diego, California," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1880) 3: 147–49 * "Description of a new gobioid fish (''Othonops eos'') from San Diego, California," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1881) 4: 19–21 * "Description of a new species of ''Gobiesox'' (''G. rhessodon'') from San Diego, California," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1881) 4: 140–41 * "Description of a new species of ''Uranidea'' (''U. rhothea'') from Spokane river, Washington territory," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1883) 6: 347–48 * "The life colors of Cremnobates integripinnis," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1883) 6: 216–17 * "Notes of the fishes of Todos Santos bay, Lower California," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1883) 6: 232–36 * "On the life coloration of the young of ''Pomacentrus rubicundus''," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1883) 6: 652 * "Notes on fishes collected at San Cristobal, Lower California, by Charles H. Townsend, assistant, U.S. Fish commission," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1885) 7: 551–53 * "On the occurrence of a new species of ''Rhinoptera'' (''R. encenadoe'') in Todos Santos bay, Lower California," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1886) 9: 220 * "Description of a New Species of Euprotomicrus," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1890) 2 (ser. 3): 35 * "New California Fishes, " ''American Naturalist'' (1891) 25: 153–56 Co-authored with Carl H. Eigenmann: * "''Cyprinodon californiensis''," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1888) 5: 3–4 * "A list of the American species of Gobiidae and Callionymidae, with notes on the specimens contained in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Massachusetts," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1888) 2 (ser. 1): 51–78 * "Notes on some Californian fishes, with descriptions of two new species," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1888) 11: 463–66 * "Preliminary notes on South American Nematognathi" ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1888) 2 (ser. 1): 119–72; and 2 (ser. 2), pp. 28–56 * "South American Nematognathi," ''American Naturalist'' (1888) 23: 647–49 * "Contributions from the San Diego biological laboratory," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 44–47 * "Description of a new species of Cyprinodon," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1889) 2 (ser. 1): 270 * "Description of new nematogathoid fishes from Brazil," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 8–10 * "Notes from the San Diego biological laboratory. The fishes of Cortez banks; additions to the fauna of San Diego; fishes of Aetna springs, Napa county, California; fishes of Allen springs, Lake county, California," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 123–32; 147–50 * "On the development of California food fishes," ''American Naturalist'' (1889) 23: 107–10 * "On the genesis of the color-cells of fishes," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 61–62 * "On the phosphorescent spots of ''Porichthys margaritatus''," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 32–34 * "Preliminary descriptions of new species and genera of Characinidae," ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 7–8 * "A review of the Erythrininae," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1889) 2 (ser. 2): 100–16 * "A revision of the edentulous genera of Curimatinae," ''Annuals of the New York Academy of Science'' (1889) 4: 409–40 * "The young stages of some selachians," ''American Naturalist'' (1888) 25: 150–51; and also: ''The West-American Scientist'' (1889) 6: 150–51 * "Additions to the fauna of San Diego," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1890) 2 (ser. 3): 1–24 * "Descriptions of new species of Sebastodes," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1890) 2 (ser. 3): 36–38 * ''A revision of the South American Nematognathi, or cat-fishes'' (San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1890) * "''Cottus beldingi'', sp. nov.," ''American Naturalist'' (1891) 25: 1132–33 * "Recent additions to the ichthyological fauna of California," ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences'' (1891) p. 159–61 * "A catalogue of the fishes of the Pacific coast of America, north of Cerros island," ''Annuals of the New York Academy of Science'' (1892) 6: 349–58 * "A catalogue of the fresh-water fishes of South America," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'' (1892) 14: 1–81 * "New fishes from western Canada," ''American Naturalist'' (1892) 26: 961–64 * "Preliminary descriptions of new fishes from the Northwest," ''American Naturalist'' (1893) 27: 151–54 Co-authored with John Swain: * "Notes on a collection of fishes from Johnson's island (700 miles S.W. of the Hawaiian group) including descriptions of five new species," ''Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum'', (1882) 5: 119–43

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * Hubbs, Carl L., "Rosa Smith Eigenmann," in * * * * *

External links

*
"Eigenmann MSS"
finding aid for the papers of Rosa Smith Eigenmann and Carl H. Eigenmann at Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
"Rosa Smith Eigenmann papers, 1880-1927"
finding aid for the collection at the Indiana University Archives, Bloomington, Indiana
"Rosa Smith Eigenmann Papers, 1845, 1884-1939, 1970, 1973"
finding aid for the collection at Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, D.C.
Finding aid to the Rosa Smith Eigenmann Scrapbooks, Online Archive of California.

The San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library
houses a significant collection of Rosa Smith Eigenmann’s scrapbooks. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eigenmann, Rosa Smith 1858 births 1947 deaths 19th-century American women scientists 20th-century American women scientists 19th-century American zoologists American ichthyologists Women ichthyologists American women biologists Harvard University alumni People from San Diego Scientists from California People associated with the San Diego Natural History Museum American curators American women curators People from Monmouth, Illinois Pacific Coast Women's Press Association