Gustavus Augustus Eisen (August 2, 1847 − October 29, 1940) was a Swedish-American

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

. He became a member of

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

in 1874 and a Life Member in 1883. In 1893, he became the 'Curator of Archaeology, Ethnology, and Lower Animals' at the academy. He later changed titles to 'Curator of Marine Invertebrates'. In 1938, he was appointed as an 'Honorary Member', which is considered the highest honor from the academy.

Biography

Eisen was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on August 2, 1847. He attended school at

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

and later graduated from the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

in 1873. He came to California that same year to participate in a biotic survey sponsored by the

Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting natural sciences and mathem ...

. He decided to make California his home and joined the California Academy of Sciences the following year. He was known to have diverse interests, including "art and art history, archeology and anthropology, agronomy and horticulture, history of science, geography and cartography, cytology, and protozoology, as well as marine invertebrate zoology" A 2012 article in the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

describes him as, "One of those 19th century polymaths, Eisen also studied malaria-vector mosquitoes, founded a vineyard in Fresno, introduced avocados and Smyrna figs to California, campaigned to save the giant sequoias, and wrote a multivolume book about the Holy Grail." He is perhaps best known for his studies of oligochete worms and many species were named after him including those in the genus '' Eisenia''. In addition, he is considered to have been responsible for the introduction of the avocado and the smyrna fig to California and he wrote a detailed history of figs. He was a correspondent of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

and his work was referenced twice by Darwin in ''

The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms #REDIRECT The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms {{R from other capitalisation ...

''. Mt. Eisen, in the Sierra Nevada in California, was named after him.

World renown

Eisen's opinions were sought on the practicalities of new horticulture crops in Australia. His advice was valued in fig cultivation and in processing grapes into raisins.

Organisms named after him

Earthworms *

Achaeta eiseni ''Achaeta eiseni'' is a species of annelids belonging to the family Enchytraeidae. It is native to Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic ...

Vejdovsky * Diplocardia eiseni Michaelsen * Eisenia eiseni Levinsen * Eisenia Malm *

Eisenia fetida ''Eisenia fetida'', known under various common names such as manure worm, redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to Decomposition, decaying organic material. These ...

Eisenia hortensis The European nightcrawler (''Dendrobaena hortensis'') is a medium-small earthworm averaging about 1.5 g when fully grown. Generally blueish, pink-grey in color with a banded or striped appearance, the tips of their tails are often cream or pale ...

Eisenia andrei ''Eisenia andrei'' is a close relative of the 'brandling' or 'tiger' worm ''Eisenia fetida''. Like ''E. fetida'', it is epigeic, i.e. it prefers to live in compost or leaf litter rather than mineral soils. It can be distinguished from ''E. fetid ...

Eiseniona ''Eiseniona'' is a genus of annelids The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The sp ...

Omodeo * Eisenoides Gates *

Eiseniella ''Eiseniella'' is a genus of worms in the Lumbricidae. The genus was described in 1900 by W. Michaelsen. It has cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all ...

Michaelsen * Eukerria eiseniana Rosa *

Fridericia eiseni ''Fridericia'' may refer to: * ''Fridericia'' (annelid), a genus of annelid worms in the family Enchytraeidae * ''Fridericia'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Bignoniaceae {{Genus disambiguation ...

Dózsa-Farkas Brown algae * Eisenia Areschoug *

Eisenia bicyclis , sea oak is a species of kelp, of the brown algae, best known for its use in Japanese cuisine. Description ''Eisenia bicyclis'' is indigenous to temperate Pacific Ocean waters centered near Japan, although it is deliberately cultured elsewher ...

Eisenia arborea ''Eisenia arborea'', or the southern sea palm (not to be confused with the sea palm), is a dominant species of kelp that is found on the western Pacific coast of North America, from Vancouver Island, Canada south to Mexico's Isla Magdalena and ...

Areschoug Vascular Plants *

Phacelia eisenii ''Phacelia eisenii'' is a species of phacelia known by the common name Eisen's phacelia. It is endemic to California, where it occurs only in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills, as well as the adjacent Tehachapi Mountains. It grows in mountain h ...

Brandegee *

Bacopa eisenii ''Bacopa eisenii'' is a species of water hyssop known by the common name Gila River water hyssop. It is native to California and Nevada, where it grows in wet habitat such as rice paddies and muddy river banks. This aquatic plant has rounded or ...

(Kellogg) Pennell *

Clarkia eiseniana ''Clarkia'' is a genus within the flowering plant family Onagraceae. Over 40 species are currently classified in ''Clarkia''; almost all are native to western North America, though one species (''Clarkia tenella'') is native to South America. ...

Kellog * Ranunculus eiseni Kellog Mosquitoes * Anopheles eiseni Coquillett Ant * Atzeca foreleg eiseni Pergande Hymenoptera * Anthidiellum eiseni PergaCockerell * Centris eisenii Fox * Mesostenus eisenii Ashmead Grasshopper * Brachystola eiseni Bruner Copepods * Diaptomus eiseni Liljeborg Zygoptera * Enallagma eiseni Calvert Tipulidae * Erioptera eiseni Alexander Diptera * Hermetia eiseni Townsend * Zophina eiseni Townsend Spider * Linyphia eiseni Banks *

Pardosa eiseni ''Pardosa'' is a large genus of wolf spiders, commonly known as the thin-legged wolf spiders. It was first described by C. L. Koch, in 1847, with more than 500 described species that are found in all regions of the world. Description They ar ...

Thorell Snake * Tantilla eiseni Stejneger Fish *

Xenotoca eiseni ''Xenotoca'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Goodeidae from Mexico, where various species are found in a wide range of habitats, from rivers and creeks to pools and lakes, in the Lerma River, Lerma–Grande de Santiago River, G ...

Rutter

Publications

* Eisen, G.A. 1888. On the anatomy of Sutroa rostrata, a new annelid of the sub-family Lumbriculina. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 2(1):1–9. * Eisen, G.A. 1890. The raisin industry. A practical treatise on the raisin grapes, their history, culture and curing. Available online at https://archive.org/details/raisinindustrypr00eise. * Eisen, G.A. 1893. Anatomical studies on new species of Ocnerodrilus. Proceedings of the California Academy * of Sciences, ser. 2, 3:228–290. * Eisen, G.A. 1894. On California Eudrilidae. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 2(3):21–62. * Eisen, G.A. 1895. Pacific Coast Oligochaeta I. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 2(4):63–122. * Eisen, G.A. 1896. Pacific Coast Oligochaeta II. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 2(5):123–200. * Eisen, G.A. 1897. Plasmocytes; the survival of the centrosomes and archoplasm of the nucleated erythrocytes, as free and independent elements in the blood of Batrachoseps attenuatus Esch. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, ser. 3, Zoology, 1(1):1–72. * Eisen, G.A. 1897. Explorations in the Cape Region of Baja California. Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1897), pp. 271–280. * Eisen, G.A. 1899. Notes on North-American earthworms of the genus Diplocardia. Zoological Bulletin Vol. 2, No. 4, Feb., 1899 . https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1535422 * Eisen, G.A. 1900. Researches in American Oligochaeta, with especial reference to those of the Pacific coast and adjacent islands. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, ser. 3, Zoology, 2(2):85–276. * Eisen, G.A. 1900. Explorations in the Cape Region of Baja California. Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/197262 * Eisen, G.A. 1900. The Spermatogenesis of Batrachoseps. Polymorphous spermatogonia, auxocytes, and spermatocytes. Journal of Morphology. DOI: 10.1002/jmor.1050170102. * Eisen, G. A. 1901. The fig: its history, culture, and curing, with a descriptive catalogue of the known varieties of figs. Available online here: https://archive.org/details/figitshistorycul00eise. * Eisen, G.A. 1903. The earthquake and volcanic eruption in Guatemala in 1902. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/197952.

References

External links