William David Barnes (September 3, 1860 – May 1, 1930, Decatur, Illinois) was an American entomologist and surgeon. He was the son of Dr. William A. and Eleanor Sawyer Barnes. He graduated

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

from the Decatur High School in 1877. Then spent a year at

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

followed by a year at

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

. In 1879, he entered

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and graduated in 1886. While at Harvard, he met naturalist

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

and his love of Lepidoptera grew. Agassiz taught him how to preserve and classify the butterflies. He completed an internship at

Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital, located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and . ...

and then studied abroad in Heidelberg, Munich, and Vienna. In 1890, Dr. Barnes came home to Decatur and opened his medical practice. That same year he married Charlotte L. Gillette. The couple had two children: William Barnes Jr., and Joan Dean Gillett Barnes. He was one of the founders of

Decatur Memorial Hospital Decatur Memorial Hospital (DMH), is a Decatur, Illinois affiliate of Memorial Medical Center (Springfield, Illinois) and is a 300-bed, not-for-profit, community hospital founded in 1916. DMH has more than 2,300 employees and 300 physicians. It i ...

. Barnes served as its president until his death. During that time he donated his time, talent and around $200,000. From 1910 to 1919

James Halliday McDunnough James Halliday McDunnough (10 May 1877 – 23 February 1962) was a Canadians, Canadian Linguistics, linguist, musician, and Entomology, entomologist best known for his work with North American Lepidoptera, but who also made important contributio ...

produced, with Barnes credited as co-author, an impressive volume of research on the

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. ...

of North American Lepidoptera, including the first four volumes of the privately published ''Contributions to the Natural History of the Lepidoptera of North America'', the 1917 ''Check List of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America'', ''Illustrations of the North American Species of the Genus Catocala'', and numerous journal articles, 67 papers in all. In 1913, Barnes became a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of America The Entomological Society of America (ESA) was founded in 1889 and today has more than 7,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, ...

. Although Barnes was interested and involved in the work of his curators, he apparently did little or no actual research but was given co-author credit as a courtesy that was due to one whose generosity in both money and access to his collections made the research of his curators possible. At his death in 1930, his collection of butterflies was regarded as the largest and finest in the world with possibly 10,000 species and an estimated 473,000 specimens, even receiving praise in the 1936 ''National Geographic'' magazine. As a result of Barnes' collection, hundreds of species new to science were discovered and described. A few months after his death, the U.S. government bought Dr. Barnes' collection for $50,000; the collection was to be housed in the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. It is the largest collection by number of specimens in the history of the Smithsonian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, William 1860 births 1930 deaths American lepidopterists People from Decatur, Illinois Illinois State University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Physicians from Illinois Taxon authorities Fellows of the Entomological Society of America Taxa named by William Barnes (entomologist) American surgeons