Richard Rathbun

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Richard Rathbun (January 25, 1852 – July 16, 1918) was an American biologist and administrator at the Smithsonian Institution.

Biography

Richard Rathbun was born in Buffalo, New York, to Charles Rathbun and his wife Marey (née Furey). He was schooled in Buffalo before joining his father's quarrying company, Whitmore and Rathbun, for four years.[1] He was fascinated by fossils, and soon amassed a large collection. When he offered it to the Buffalo Society of Natural History, they decided to appoint him curator, and this marked the beginning of Richard's scientific career.[1]

In 1871, Rathbun entered Cornell University, going on to be an assistant in zoology at the Boston Society of Natural History two years later. In 1874 and 1875, he spend the summer assisting the work of the United States Fish Commission, a division of the Smithsonian Institution.[1] He was appointed the official geologist of an expedition to Brazil to investigate its natural resources. The expedition was cut short after two years when yellow fever broke out, killing the head of the expedition and debilitating Rathbun.[1]

On his return to the United States, Rathbun took up the position of scientific assistant in the U.S. Fish Commission, where he remained for 18 years. During this time, his younger sister,

University of Indiana, Bowdoin College, the University of Pittsburgh and George Washington University.[1]

He died on July 16, 1918, of

heart disease resulting from the yellow fever he had suffered 40 years before,[1] and was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery.[2] He was survived by his wife and their only child, the architect Seward Hume Rathbun.[1]

Work

Wilbur Wright
sought information on aerodynamics from Rathbun.

Rathbun's scientific work focused on parasitic copepods and fisheries science, especially of crabs, lobsters and fish.[3]

Around 1898, Rathbun, in his position as assistant secretary to the Smithsonian Institution, received a letter from the then-unknown

heavier-than-air flight to fail.[4]

Richard Rathbun was instrumental in the establishment of the natural history building of the Smithsonian Institution.

National Collection of Fine Arts, when he oversaw the acquisition of the William T. Evans collection of contemporary American art.[1]

Honorifics

Richard Rathbun was honored for his services to science by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann in 1896 when they named the ronquil genus Rathbunella.[5]

Other species in which Rathbun is honored in their binomial include:[6][7][8][9]

† = extinct

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Richard Rathbun launched Wright brothers' research" (PDF). The Rathbun–Rathbone–Rathburn Family Historian. 4 (3): 36–37, 42. 1984.
  2. ^ Amy Ballard (June 28 – July 5, 2011). "Richard Rathbun: The Smithsonian's Renaissance Man". National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  3. Fenner A. Chace, Jr. (2001). "A brief history of the Invertebrate Zoology Section". Smithsonian Institution
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-4332-1
    .
  5. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (4 July 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Zoarcales: Families: Anarhichadidae, Neozoarcidae, Eulophias, Stichaeidae, Lumpenidae, Ophistocentridae, Pholidae, Ptilichthyidae, Zaproridae, Cryptacanthodidae, Cebidichthyidae, Scytalinidae and Bathymasteridae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  6. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (eds.). "The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database". Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  7. ^ Leonhard Stejneger (1896). "Description of a new genus and species of blind tailed batrachians from the subterranean waters of Texas". Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 18: 619–621.
  8. ^ A.E. Verrill (1880). "Notice of the remarkable marine fauna occupying the outer banks off the southern coast of New England". American Journal of Science. 3 (20): 390–403.
  9. ^ Canu, F.; Bassler, R. S. (1920). "North American early Tertiary Bryozoa". United States National Museum Bulletin (106): 1-879 (2 vols.).

External links

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