Benjamin Charles Gruenberg (15 August 1875 – 1 July 1965) was a Russian-born American biology educator and writer. He was involved in establishing high school biology curricula for New York high schools and sex education in the United States.

Life and work

Gruenberg was born in

Novoselytsia Novoselytsia (, ; , ; ; ) is a city in Chernivtsi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast, Chernivtsi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast (oblast, province) of Ukraine. It stands at the northern tip of Bessarabia region, on its border with Bukovina. It hosts the administra ...

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), and after his Jewish parents emigrated to the US he received his BS from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1896. He worked briefly as a chemist involved in the sugar industry. In 1902 he became an instructor in biology in the New York City public high schools. In 1903 he married Sidonie Matsner. She was a specialist in child development and was involved in the Child Study Association of America. She later became a Fellow of the AAAS. In 1908 Gruenberg received a master's degree in genetics from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

after which he taught biology at Commercial High School. In 1911 he received a PhD from Columbia University under

Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an Americans, American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, Embryology, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries e ...

after which he taught at

Julia Richman High School The Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC) is an educational multiplex located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Named after the district superintendent of schools, Julia Richman, it houses six autonomous small schools for ...

. From 1920 he was involved in sex education under the Bureau of Education in the US schools. In 1925 he wrote a textbook on biology and human life. He was also a managing editor for ''The American Teacher'' which he helped found in 1911. He wrote a textbook on biology in 1919 in which he removed the traditional separation of botany and zoology and focused on social applications. From 1925 he became a director for the American Association for Medical Progress. He lectured widely and wrote for children as well as for educators. In 1929 he became an editor for

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

and was involved in getting scientists to write books for ordinary readers. Clarence Darrow, an attorney in the Scopes trial in 1925 requested Gruenberg to attend as an expert witness but he was advised by an editor of a textbook that was under preparation not to get involved.

References

External links

Elementary biology, an introduction to the science of life
(1919)
1924

The story of evolution
(1919)
Student's manual of exercises in elementary biology
(1921, with Frank M. Wheat)
Parents and sex education, for parents of young children
(1932)
Biology and human life
(1925)
Biology and Man
(1944)
High schools and sex education. A manual of suggestions on education related to sex
(1922) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruenberg, Benjamin Charles 1875 births 1965 deaths People from Novoselytsia American educators People from Bessarabia Governorate Bessarabian Jews American people of Russian-Jewish descent