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Asa Gray

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Scientist

The Resume

    (November 18, 1810-January 30, 1888)
    Born in Sauquoit, New York
    Botanist
    Professor of Botany at Harvard (1842-73)
    Wrote 'Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States' aka 'Gray's Manual' (1848) and 'Darwiniana: Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism' (1876)
    Wrote the textbooks 'First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology' (1857) and 'How Plants Grow: A Simple Introduction to Structural Botany' (1858)

Why he might be annoying:

    He earned a medical degree but practiced as a doctor for only a year before moving on to botany.
    He was hired as a botany professor by the newly-formed University of Michigan (1838), but due to financial problems he was let go before ever teaching a class there. (On the bright side, the University sent him to Europe to purchase books for their libraries, with the trip giving an opportunity to meet the continent's leading botanists.)
    He lost part of his thumb in a gardening accident (1861).
    His once-close friendship with fellow scientist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz broke down over their differing opinions on evolution.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was the third scientist (and first American) to whom Charles Darwin disclosed the theory of evolution by natural selection.
    He was one of the first scientists to apply Darwin's ideas to a scientific question. (In his case, as an explanation of the 'Gray disjunction,' an unusual similarity of numerous plants in East Asia and the eastern US.)
    Darwin said he had Gray in mind when he wrote, 'It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist & an evolutionist.'
    He was one of the founding members of the National Academy of Sciences (1863).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying