Nathan Augustus Cobb (30 June 1859, in

Spencer, Massachusetts Spencer is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,992 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Spencer, please see the article Spencer (CDP), Massach ...

– 4 June 1932, in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

) is known as "the father of

nematology Nematology is the scientific discipline concerned with the study of nematodes, or roundworms. Although nematological investigation dates back to the days of Aristotle or even earlier, nematology as an independent discipline has its recognizable ...

in the United States". He provided the foundations for

nematode The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant- parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a bro ...

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and described over 1000 different nematode

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. An individual with a variety of skills, he made significant contributions to a number of scientific disciplines and the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Nematology Laboratory, originally established with him as the director, continues today. He was the father of Frjeda Blanchard, the geneticist who first demonstrated

Mendelian inheritance Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...

in reptiles.

Books by Cobb

This list can be accessed via the

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 ...

. The list is incomplete. *"A Nematode formula." (1890) Sydney : C. Potter *"Nematodes, mostly Australian and Fijian." (1893) Sydney : F. Cunninghame & Co., printers *"The sheep-fluke." (1897) Sydney : W. A. Gullick, gov't. printer *"Letters on the diseases of plants." (1897) Sydney : W. A. Gullick, gov't. printer *"Seed wheat: an investigation and discussion of the relative value as seed of large plump and small shrivelled grains." (1903) Sydney : W. A. Gullick, gov't. printer *"Letters on the diseases of plants. Second series." (1904) Sydney : W. A. Gullick, gov't. printer *"Methods of using the microscope, camera-lucida and solar projector for purposes of examination and the production of illustrations." (1905) Honolulu : Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association *"Contributions to a science of nematology." (1914–35) Baltimore : Williams & Wilkins Co.

References

Nathan Augustus Cobb: A Biography (including photos of Cobb)

Society of Nematologists
1859 births 1932 deaths American biologists Nematologists People from Spencer, Massachusetts 19th-century American scientists 20th-century American scientists Scientists from Massachusetts Presidents of the American Society of Parasitologists {{US-zoologist-stub