author
Nathan Banks
1868–1953
A pioneering American entomologist, he helped shape the study of insects, mites, and spiders in the United States. His clear, practical scientific writing made specialist research more usable for other naturalists and researchers.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Roslyn, New York, in 1868, Nathan Banks became one of the most productive American entomologists of his era. He was especially known for his work on groups such as lacewings, alderflies, wasps, and mites, and he also made important contributions to arachnology.
Banks worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and later with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. Across a long career, he published a large body of taxonomic and reference work, including a major English-language treatise on mites that helped organize a difficult field for future researchers.
He died in 1953, but his reputation has lasted through the many species descriptions, identification guides, and scientific papers he left behind. For listeners interested in natural history, he stands out as a careful observer who turned close attention to tiny creatures into lasting scholarship.