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

传统上，美国生命科学在19世纪末的快速增长和发展，很大程度上被认为是由于美国采用了发达的德国生理学和形态学的理想。然而，最近的学术研究认为，德国科学只是影响美国生物学发展的一个因素，而且还不是最重要的因素。在这项研究资助下，本森博士正在完成他对美国独特的生物学环境的研究，特别是在海洋生物学实验室的背景下。早期的站点——Penikese岛上的Anderson自然历史学院（1873年）、Alexander Agassiz的Newport实验室（1875年）和William Brooks的Chesapeake动物实验室（1878年）——是向中学教师教授自然史基础知识的暑期学院，自然史是对自然世界的描述性研究，是19世纪80年代之前美国生物学的特征。随着科学教育的改革，建立了几个实验室，为研究生提供生物学高级教学的机会。其中包括伍兹霍尔海洋生物实验室（1888年）、霍普金斯海洋站（1892年）、斯克里普斯海洋学研究所（1903年）和星期五港实验室（1904年）。这些站点在美国生物学的成长和发展中发挥了至关重要的作用，从它在自然历史传统中的根源，到它在世纪之交开始成熟并获得国际领导地位时所处的地位。本森博士将对美国海洋实验室的发展以及这些机构在美国生物学的成长和成熟中所起的作用进行批判性的评估。

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.