Orator Fuller Cook Jr. (May 28, 1867 – April 23, 1949) was an American

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as ara ...

, and

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

, known for his work on cotton and rubber cultivation and for coining the term "

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution withi ...

" to describe the process by which new species arise from existing ones. He published nearly 400 articles on topics such as genetics, evolution, sociology, geography, and anthropology.

Early life and education

Cook was born in

Clyde, New York Clyde is a village in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 2,093 at the 2010 census. It was named after the River Clyde, in Scotland, and the village sits on the Clyde River, a tributary of the Seneca River. The Village o ...

in 1867, the son of Orator Fuller and Eliza (née Hookway) Cook. His father was a stonemason from England who had immigrated in 1855. Orator Jr. grew up in Clyde, taught biology for two years before entering university, and graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

with a

B.A. 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 yea ...

in 1890. He subsequently worked as a biology instructor there the following year.

Career

In 1891 Cook became a special agent of the New York State Colonization Society. He worked in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast� ...

, and in 1896, he was elected president of

Liberia College The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

. He held that position until 1898. That year he joined the

United States Department of Agriculture 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 comme ...

as a plant scientist, and eventually became Principal Botanist and traveled throughout the world investigating crop species for the United States government. He specialized in

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

and

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

plants and the classification of palms, particularly the palms of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

. He published almost four hundred books and articles during his career, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science by Syracuse University in 1930. Cook served as Honorary Assistant Curator of Cryptogamic Collections at the

United States National Herbarium The United States National Herbarium is a collection of five million preserved plant specimens housed in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It represents about 8% of the ...

from 1898 until 1948. Cook also studied

myriapods Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, ...

(

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

s, and relatives), describing over 100 species and producing over 50 publications. In 1922, Cook and his colleague

Harold Loomis Harold Frederick Loomis (December 23, 1896 – July 5, 1976) was an American botanist and myriapodologist known for his contributions to agronomy, plant pathology, and millipede taxonomy. He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for ov ...

described a species of millipede with more legs than any other organism then known on Earth: ''

Illacme plenipes ''Illacme plenipes'' is a siphonorhinid millipede found in the central region of the U.S. state of California. It has up to 750 legs. One of two known species in the genus ''Illacme'', it was first seen in 1926, but was not rediscovered until ...

'' which possesses as many as 750 legs. Cook was a member of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

American Genetic Association The American Genetic Association (AGA) is a USA-based professional scientific organization dedicated to the study of genetics and genomics which was founded as the American Breeders' Association in 1903. The association has published the '' Journ ...

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soc ...

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Th ...

Washington Academy of Sciences Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, as well as the

Cosmos Club The Cosmos Club is a 501(c)(7) private social club in Washington, D.C. that was founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878 as a gentlemen's club for those interested in science. Among its stated goals is, "The advancement of its members in science, ...

, a private social club of Washington D.C.

Family

In 1892 Cook married the botanist Alice Carter, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. His son Robert Carter Cook became a geneticist.

References

Guide to the Orator F. Cook Papers 1889-1898
- Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Accessed 4 Nov 2014

- Accessed 13 June 2011 * *

External links

Myriapod publications by Orator Fuller Cook
from the International Society of Myriapodology
Guide to the Orator F. Cook Papers 1889-1898
Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Cook, Orator Fuller
''Index of Botanists''. Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Orator F. 1867 births 1949 deaths American botanists American agronomists Botanists active in Africa Botanists active in Central America Botanists active in North America Botanists with author abbreviations Liberian educators Presidents of the University of Liberia Syracuse University alumni People from Clyde, New York People from Lanham, Maryland Myriapodologists American people of English descent United States Department of Agriculture people Scientists from New York (state)