author
Louis Agassiz
1807–1873
A pioneering 19th-century naturalist, geologist, and teacher, this Swiss-born scholar helped shape how Americans studied glaciers, fossils, and the diversity of animal life. His career left a major mark on science education, even as parts of his legacy are now closely reexamined.
2 Audiobooks
Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence
by Louis Agassiz
A Journey in Brazil
by Louis Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz
About the author
Born in Switzerland in 1807, Louis Agassiz became one of the best-known naturalists of his time. He earned early recognition for his studies of fossil fishes and for arguing that Earth had once experienced a vast ice age, ideas that helped change how scientists understood the planet's past.
After visiting the United States, he settled at Harvard, where he taught zoology and geology and later founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He was also widely admired as a lecturer and teacher, known for encouraging close observation of the natural world.
Agassiz died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1873. While he remains important for his work in natural history and science education, his reputation is also debated today because he opposed Darwin's theory of evolution and promoted racist ideas that caused real harm.