The Scientific Lazzaroni is a self-mocking name adopted by

Alexander Dallas Bache Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and surveyor who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army ...

and his group of scientists who flourished before and up to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. (" Lazzaroni" was slang for the homeless idlers of Naples who live by chance work or begging - so called from the Hospital of St Lazarus, which served as their refuge.) These scientists then gained greater support and laid the foundation for the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. However, the National Academy did not solve the problems facing a nation plunged in Civil War – as the Lazzaroni had hoped, nor did it centralize American scientific efforts. These Lazzaroni were mostly professional physical scientists, interested in geophysical problems, who admitted a few kindred souls from other fields to their ranks. Their interests and range of influence extended to all of the sciences and included much of the research performed in universities and the government. They were consciously promoting the development of a professional scientific community in America. The Lazzaroni in the United States actually existed in the 1850s and a little before, though the name was not always the same as the group changed and grew. The Lazzaroni wanted to mimic the autocratic academic structures of European universities. The members of the Lazzaroni wanted only university-educated scientists, at one point, so as to create a "pure science" for America. Therefore, the scientists who did not match the code and "oath" of the initial members would be forced, if possible, out of their vocation and not allowed to advance unless they met the qualifications of the Lazzaroni, who often kept scientists out of any professional scientific position. They used their influence together, a group of top scientists against any one individual. The following is a partial list of Lazzaroni and their opponents.

The (American) Lazzaroni

(1806–1867) *

Benjamin Peirce Benjamin Peirce (; April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American mathematician who taught at Harvard University for approximately 50 years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics, statistics, number theory, algebra, and the philoso ...

(1809–1880) *

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

(1807–1873) *

Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797– May 13, 1878) was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor ...

(1797–1878) * Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (1822–1908) *

Charles Henry Davis Charles Henry Davis ( – ) was a Autodidacticism, self-educated American astronomer and Rear admiral (United States), rear admiral of the United States Navy. While working for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, United States Coast ...

(1807–1877) * Benjamin Apthorp Gould (1824–1896) * John Fries Frazer (1812–1872) *

James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (February 12, 1813 – April 14, 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcano, volcanic activity, and the ...

(1813–1895) * Cornelius Conway Felton (1807–1862)

Friends of the Lazzaroni

* James Hall (paleontologist) (1811–1898) *Senator Henry Wilson (1812–1875) *

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

(1808–1889) — close friend of Bache (since West Point) and Joseph Henry (of the Smithsonian). Bache did not like Maury working near the area which Bache regarded as his own, the Coast Survey. However, due to persistent shipwrecks along the coast, Maury was ordered to create charts. After his charts were widely available, the losses were greatly reduced. Bache became jealous and was determined to get revenge. Davis was a Regent of the Smithsonian for several years (1847, 1851; 1853-57 as Secretary of War); the Institution clashed with the Naval Observatory over using its endowment funds for professional scientific advancements. In 1857 Davis re-entered the Senate; his great abilities were admired both by Bache and by Smithsonian Secretary Henry. These three powerful men, Henry, Davis and Bache were pitted against Maury – including during the Civil War. Davis became CSA President and Maury was under his command.

The Opposition

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

(1810–1888) *

William Barton Rogers William Barton Rogers (December 7, 1804 – May 30, 1882) was an American geologist, physicist, and the founder and first president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). An acclaimed lecturer in the physical sciences, Rogers taug ...

(1804–1882) * Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) * Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806–1873)

The Neutrals

* Joseph Leidy (1823–1891) *

John William Draper John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first deta ...

(1811–1882) *

Spencer Fullerton Baird Spencer Fullerton Baird (; February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, Herpetology, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He ...

(1823–1887)

Sources

*Nathan Reingold, ''Science in Nineteenth-Century America'' (1964) *Frances Leigh Williams ''Mathew Fontaine Maury; Scientist of the Sea'' (1963) by Rutgers, The State University Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 63-10564 *''The Lazzaroni: science and scientists in mid-nineteenth-century America''. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Miller, Lillian B. * Axel Jansen, ''Alexander Dallas Bache: Building the American Nation through Science and Education in the Nineteenth Century'' (2011).

The Nuttall Encyclopædia (various entries)

Notes

{{reflist Scientific organizations based in the United States