Charles Cleveland Nutting (May 25, 1858 – January 23, 1927 in Iowa City, Iowa) was an American

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, born in Jacksonville,

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. He graduated from Blackburn University (1880) and received the

M. A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from the same institution in 1882. He conducted various zoological expeditions—in

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for the

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(1882–84), in

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(1885), on the Saskatchewan River (1891)—and was naturalist of the ''Albatross'' Hawaiian expedition in 1902. He was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of zoology and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Museum of Natural History of the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

from 1886 to 1890 and thereafter was head of his department. Nutting's most important publications are systematic papers dealing with marine hydroids, which appeared in the reports of the United States Commission of Fisheries and elsewhere and were reprinted, especially ''American Hydroids'' (part i, 1900; part iii, 1915). In this work Nutting described 124 new species and beautifully illustrated his monograph on American hydroids. He is commemorated in the names of a number of animals, including Nutting's flycatcher ''Myiarchus nuttingi'' and the Nicaraguan seed-finch ''Oryzoborus nuttingi''. As museum director, Nutting was successful in attracting support from donors, politicians, university students and the public. He organized and lead expeditions to exotic destinations, always bringing home specimens, photographs and stories to his supporters.

Publications

* 1900-15. ''The American hydroids''. Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Special bulletin. 3 vols. Washington: Govt. Print. Off.First two volumes
online available at

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as worldwide consortiumof natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working toge ...

All three volumes
at HathiTrust Digital Library.

Notes

Sources

University of Iowa Natural History Museum: Our first 100 years.
* * This article incorporates text from the second edition of '' The New International Encyclopedia'' vol. 17 (1916)
p. 316
1858 births 1927 deaths University of Iowa faculty American curators American zoologists American naturalists People from Jacksonville, Illinois {{US-zoologist-stub