Boston Blog

A tale from Boston’s history: The naturalist who didn’t believe in evolution

Louis Agassiz made major contributions to natural history at Harvard during the 1800s, but never accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Caitlin Stier

The imprint of Louis Agassiz on Cambridge is hard to miss. The name of the 19th-century Swiss scientist—who founded Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology and pioneered the study of natural history in the United States—can be spotted on a Cambridge street sign and community center. Even the neighborhood encompassing most of Harvard’s main campus is named after him.

Louis Agassiz, 1807-1873, was a founding father of natural history.

Agassiz is known for his careful observations of fish species and for being the first to come up with the concept of a global ice age. But he’s also famous for his creationist ideas and criticisms of Darwin’s theory of evolution, even during a time when his peers began to accept it.

Early in his career, Agassiz studied fossils of Brazilian fish and brought the number of identified varieties from eight to more than 340.

As a young professor at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, he turned to geology. He expanded an existing theory of glacial movement into the concept of a global ice age. He supported this idea by monitoring glacial movement from his research post in the Alps and linking it to his observations of rock formations and boulders dotting the landscape. Over time, geologists came to accept his theory and Agassiz became world renowned.

In 1846, Agassiz arrived in the United States to give a series of lectures and was treated like a celebrity. He traveled around the country and was excited by the diverse ecosystems he saw. He agreed to stay and take a position at Harvard created especially for him, where he focused on teaching and public outreach through lectures and work with his museum.

Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology bears the name of its founder.

Soon after the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, Agassiz emerged as one of Darwin’s staunchest critics. In an essay, Agassiz rejected evolutionary theory because of its godless and speculative nature, which he considered insufficiently supported by the geological record.

Agassiz’s preeminence helped stall the acceptance of evolution in America. Yet in time the theory gained favor among scientists. Despite intellectual isolation, Agassiz continued through his final days to advocate creationism. He even retraced Darwin’s route through South America, including the famed trip to the Galapagos Islands, looking for evidence to refute Darwin’s theory.

Despite his controversial views, Agassiz is credited today for expanding the field of natural history and teaching many who would later become leading naturalists in the United States. His museum at Harvard spurred the formation of other research-based museums around the country. And many of his detailed observations of the natural world still stand today; ironically, they provided some of the first evidence for evolution.

Sources:

Croce, Paul Jerome. “Probabilistic Darwinism: Louis Agassiz vs. Asa Gray on Science, Religion, and Certainty.” Journal of Religious History. 22:35-58 (1998).

Gould, Stephen Jay. “Agassiz in the Galápagos.” Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes: Further Reflections in Natural History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983.

Loewenberg, Bert James. “The Reaction of American Scientists to Darwinism.” The American Historical Review. 38:687-701 (1933).

Lurie, Edward. Louis Agassiz: A Life in Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

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