Research at the Shore: Marine Laboratories and the Growth ofBiology in the United States

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Traditionally, the rapid growth and development of the life sciences in the United States at the end of the 19th century has been largely attributed to the American adoption of the well- developed German ideal for physiology and morphology. Recent scholarship, however, sees German science as only one factor, and not the most important one at that, in shaping the development of American biology. Dr. Benson, under this research grant, is completing his study of the unique American setting for biology, especially in the context of the marine biology laboratories. The early stations--the Anderson School of Natural History on Penikese Island (1873), Alexander Agassiz's Newport Laboratory (1875) and William Brooks' Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory (1878)--were summer institutes to teach secondary school teachers the rudiments of natural history, the descriptive study of the natural world that characterized American biology prior to the 1880's. With the reform of science education, several of these laboratories were established to provide opportunities for graduate students in advanced instruction in biology. These included the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole (1888), the Hopkins Marine Station (1892), the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1903) and the Friday Harbor Laboratories (1904). These stations played a critical role in the growth and development of American biology, from its roots in the natural history tradition to its position when it began to come of age and gain an international leadership role at the turn of the century. Dr. Benson will provide a critical assessment of the American development of marine laboratories and the role these institutions played in the growth and maturation of American biology.