Seafaring Scientist Alfred Goldsborough Mayor, Pioneer in Marine Biology

About this book

Infused with a sense of adventure and zeal for discovery, "Seafaring Scientist" recounts the achievements of a giant in the field of marine biology. Alfred Goldsborough Mayor (1868-1922), a Harvard-trained marine biologist and close associate of Alexander Agassiz, founded and directed on behalf of the Carnegie Institution the first tropical marine biological laboratory in the Western hemisphere. Located on Loggerhead Key in the Gulf of Mexico, the Tortugas Laboratory attracted some of America's most brilliant scientists. Mayor himself achieved international prominence in the field of biology for his authoritative work on jellyfishes and coral reefs in his three-volume opus, "Medusae of the World".

Stephens and Calder fill the gaps in the historical record about Mayor with this first book-length account of his life and work. They detail Mayor's passion for biology, association with Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, and rise to international prominence in the scientific community. "Seafaring Scientist" describes Mayor's determination to develop the Tortugas Laboratory despite daunting operational problems related to the remoteness of the site and its vulnerability to hurricanes.

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Biography

Professor of history emeritus at the University of Georgia, Lester D. Stephens is the author of numerous works on the lives and work of American naturalists, including Joseph LeConte, Gentle Prophet of Evolution and Science, Race, and Religion in the American South: John Bachman and the Charleston Circle of Naturalists, 1815-1895. Marine biologist Dale R. Calder is curator emeritus in the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum; associate professor of zoology at the University of Toronto; a research associate of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo.