Henry Bryant Bigelow (October 3, 1879 – December 11, 1967) was an American
oceanographer
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...
and
marine biologist
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...
.
He is the grandson of
Henry Bryant who was an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
naturalist.
After graduating from
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1901, he began working with famed ichthyologist
Alexander Agassiz
Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz (December 17, 1835March 27, 1910), son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer.
Biography
Agassiz was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and immigrated to ...
. Bigelow accompanied Agassiz on several major marine science expeditions including one aboard the ''
Albatross
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...
'' in 1907. He began working at the
Museum of Comparative Zoology
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
in 1905 and joined Harvard's faculty in 1906 where he worked for 62 years.
In 1911, Bigelow was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
.
He helped found the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
in 1930 and was its founding director. During his life he published more than one hundred papers and several books. He was a world-renowned expert on
coelenterate
Radiata or Radiates is a historical taxonomic rank that was used to classify animals with radially symmetric body plans. The term Radiata is no longer accepted, as it united several different groupings of animals that do not form a monophyletic ...
s and
elasmobranch
Elasmobranchii () is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, including sharks (superorder Selachii), rays, skates, and sawfish (superorder Batoidea). Members of this subclass are characterised by having five to seven pairs of gil ...
s.
In 1948 Bigelow was awarded the
Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. United States National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three- to five-year period." Named after Daniel Gir ...
from the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.
Honors
The Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography is awarded by the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
to honor "those who make significant inquiries into the phenomena of the sea". Bigelow was the first recipient of the medal in 1960.
He was honored by the naming of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
research vessel
A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...
NOAAS ''Henry B. Bigelow'' (R 225).
Legacy
Bigelow's ''Fishes of the Gulf of Maine'' (with William C. Schroeder) continues to be a useful reference today.
Descriptions
Bigelow described numerous new species to science, 110 of which are recognized today according to the
World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scientific specialist ...
.
See
:Taxa named by Henry Bryant Bigelow
Species named for Bigelow
Some 26 species and two genera (''
Bigelowina
''Bigelowina'' is a genus of crustaceans belonging to the family Nannosquillidae
Nannosquillidae is a family (biology), family of stomatopods, comprising the following genera:
*''Acanthosquilla'' Manning, 1963
*''Alachosquilla'' Schotte & Mann ...
'',
stomatopod
Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in leng ...
s in family
Nannosquillidae
Nannosquillidae is a family (biology), family of stomatopods, comprising the following genera:
*''Acanthosquilla'' Manning, 1963
*''Alachosquilla'' Schotte & Manning, 1993
*''Austrosquilla'' Manning, 1966
*''Bigelowina'' Schotte & Manning, 1993
...
, and ''
Bigelowiella
''Bigelowiella'' is a genus of chlorarachniophyte algae, containing a secondary plastid within a reduced cytoplasmic compartment that contains a vestigial nucleomorph.
Genomes
The ''Bigelowiella natans'' nuclear genome was the first to be sequen ...
'',
protist
A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the exc ...
s in family
Chlorarachniophyte
The chlorarachniophytes are a small group of exclusively marine algae widely distributed in tropical and temperate waters. They are typically mixotrophic, ingesting bacteria and smaller protists as well as conducting photosynthesis. Normally the ...
) are named after him, including Bigelow's ray, ''
Rajella bigelowi'' , and ''
Etmopterus bigelowi
The blurred lanternshark (''Etmopterus bigelowi'') is a little-known species of dogfish shark in the family Etmopteridae, found around the world in benthic and pelagic habitats from a depth of to over down. This shark forms the '' E. pusillus'' ...
'', a
lantern shark
''Etmopterus'' is a genus of lantern sharks in the squaliform family Etmopteridae. They are found in deep sea ecosystems of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Ecology
A number of species in this genus function as host to the specialized ...
.
References
External links
Bigelow Laboratory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigelow, Henry Bryant
American marine biologists
American taxonomists
1879 births
1967 deaths
American ichthyologists
Cnidariologists
American oceanographers
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University alumni
Harvard University faculty
20th-century American zoologists