'Diagrams of the egg and embryos of Chelydra serpentina,Ozotheca odorata and Chrysemys picta'
Swiss-American Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) trained as a doctor and scientist but devoted his life to zoology (particularly icthyology), paleontology, geology and he did groundbreaking work in glaciology. He was taught by and had close associations with Georges Cuvier and Alexander von Humboldt and became a (famous) leading scientist in America through his field work and his professorship at Harvard University among many other accomplishments. He was also the last eminent scientist of his day to resist Darwin's evolutionary theories - "I trust to outlive this mania".
- The images above come from the first two volumes of Agassiz' 'Contributions to the Natural History of the United States' published in 1857, online at 19thcenturyscience (the plates are at the bottom of the page). I'll post some more from the other volumes later.
- Louis Agassiz at the American Museum of Natural History; famousamericans and absoluteastronomy.
- Previously: Turtle Diary.