Malcolm Playfair Anderson (6 April 1879 – 21 February 1919) was an American zoologist and explorer. Anderson took part in several scientific expeditions, and was chosen in 1904 to lead the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

's Exploration of Eastern Asia.

Early life

Anderson was born 6 April 1879 in

Irvington, Indiana The neighborhood of Irvington, named after Washington Irving, includes Irvington Historic District, a historic district in Indianapolis, Indiana. The historic district is a area that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 198 ...

as the son of Melville Best Anderson and his wife Charlena (née van Vleck). Anderson was one of his parents' two children who survived to adulthood; the other was a younger brother, Robert van Vleck Anderson. From ages eleven to fifteen, Anderson attended school in Germany. Upon returning to the United States, Anderson attended Stanford University, graduating in 1904 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

zoology 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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

. Beginning at age 15, Anderson took part in collecting expeditions, befriending scientists and academics such as

Ray Lyman Wilbur Ray Lyman Wilbur (April 13, 1875 – June 26, 1949) was an American medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University and was the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior. Early life Wilbur was born in Boonesboro, Iowa, ...

. Before completing his degree, he had already undertaken thousands of miles' worth of scientific expeditions, traversing Arizona, California, and Alaska.

Career

In 1904, Anderson was chosen by the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

to be the leader of

's Exploration of Eastern Asia. While his personal interest was mostly in the study of birds, his role in the expedition was to procure new mammal specimens. The Exploration began in July 1904 in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan. From 1904 to 1907, Anderson traveled through Japan, eastern China, and Korea. In 1908, he took a break from scientific collecting, traveling Europe with his mother Charlena. The second leg of the expedition began in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

on 5 October 1909 and ended in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

on 13 September 1910. In total, the Bedford Exploration of Eastern Asia collected over 2,700 individual mammals, resulting in many newly-described species. Anderson collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

s of several species, including the

Shinto shrew The Shinto shrew (''Sorex shinto'') is a species of shrew of the genus ''Sorex'' that lives only on the islands of Japan. It is a mole-like mammal with a pointed snout, very small ears, and a relatively long tail. Like most shrews, it is tiny, ha ...

and Japanese red-backed vole. After completing the Exploration of Eastern Asia, Andersoon took two collecting trips to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. The first trip was with

Wilfred Hudson Osgood Wilfred Hudson Osgood (December 8, 1875 – June 20, 1947) was an American zoologist. Biography Osgood was born in Rochester, New Hampshire, the oldest child of a family of watchmakers. The family moved to California in 1888 and he went to study ...

and the second was with his wife, Mary Elizabeth. In 1911, British zoologist Oldfield Thomas wrote: "to our great loss and regret Mr Anderson now proposes to give up the arduous life of the field collector."

Death

In response to the demands of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

on American manufacturing, Anderson began working at a shipyard in 1918, as he was unable to join the Army. On 21 February 1919, Anderson died when he fell from the

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

at Moore's Shipyard in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Following his death, his father

eulogized A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

him in the scientific journal '' The Condor''.

Personal life

Anderson married Mary Elizabeth Gurnee, a distant cousin, on 15 June 1913. They had one son, Malcolm Gurnee Anderson, who died in infancy.

Species named in his honor

Several species were named in honor of Anderson, including: * Japanese red-backed vole (''Myodes andersoni'')—

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, 1905 * Anderson's shrew mole (''Uropsilus andersoni'')—Thomas, 1911 * Anderson's white-bellied rat (''Niviventer andersoni'')—Thomas, 1911 *

Anderson's four-eyed opossum Anderson's four-eyed opossum (''Philander andersoni'') is an opossum species from South America. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Its dorsal fur is dark, with a black stripe, about 3–4 cm wide, going vertical ...

(''Philander andersoni'')— Osgood, 1913

References

1879 births 1919 deaths Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni American zoologists Accidental deaths in California Accidental deaths from falls Industrial accident deaths Zoological collectors American expatriates in Germany {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Malcolm