author
Alexander Agassiz
1835–1910
A scientist, explorer, and engineer, he helped turn deep-sea research into a modern field while also playing a major role in one of America’s great copper-mining enterprises. His life linked Harvard science, ocean voyages, and the rapid industrial growth of the nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
Seaside Studies in Natural History. Marine Animals of Massachusetts Bay. Radiates.
by Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, Alexander Agassiz
About the author
Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 1835, Alexander Agassiz later settled in the United States and studied at Harvard. He became known as a marine zoologist and oceanographer, building a reputation through research on sea life and the structure of the ocean floor.
Agassiz was closely connected to Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, where he served for many years and helped strengthen the museum’s scientific work. He also took part in major ocean expeditions, studying coral reefs, echinoderms, and marine collections from around the world.
His career was unusually broad: alongside his scientific work, he was also an engineer and an important figure in the Calumet and Hecla copper mine, whose success gave him the means to support research. He died in 1910 while at sea, fittingly ending a life spent in both science and exploration.