Alfred G. Mayer (Alfred Goldsborough Mayor; April 16, 1868 – June 24, 1922) was an American

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

and

zoologist 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 d ...

, whose fascination with

medusae Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

(jellyfish) marked a turning point for

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. Despite Mayor's interest in the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

, his first voyage began during his twenty-fourth year of life. Because of his German 'heritage', " ..e altered it (his last name) to "Mayor" in order to dissociate himself from his Germanic roots".''Seafaring Scientist'' by Lester D. Stephens and Dale R. Calder: published in 2006
/ref> Mayor is also greatly known for his many publications and papers in which he wrote about topics ranging from

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

Education

Mayor was born in

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...

, the son of Katherine Duckett (Goldsborough) and Alfred Marshall Mayer. He was of part German descent. Dropping out from school at age sixteen, he began to work in a machinist's shop. To please the request of his father, Alfred enrolled in the

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...

. After many years of physics-related work in several universities, Mayor left his position to pursue a career in natural history, a great interest of his. Professor Lucian I. Blake, one of Mayor's many mentors and professor of

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, stated that," lfred wassuccessful in Physics,...his true taste and longings were toward natural history." In 1897, he graduated from

Harvard University 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 high ...

with a Sc.D.

Career

Mayor's most recognized work originated from his work as a successful marine biologist. He published his first book about jellyfish in 1910 titled ''Medusae of the World'', which documented his many studies of species of jellyfish around the world. In 1907 Mayor founded the Tortugas Laboratory on

Garden Key Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...

(today Fort Jefferson National Monument), maintained by the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

, where each summer marine biologists studied the life of the coral reef. Mayor died on nearby

Loggerhead Key Loggerhead Key is an uninhabited tropical island within the Dry Tortugas group of islands in the Gulf of Mexico. At approximately 49 acres (19.8 hectares) in size, it is the largest island of the Dry Tortugas. Despite being uninhabited, the is ...

, Dry Tortugas, aged 54. With his wife, artist and sculptor Harriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor, Mayor was the father of art historian

A. Hyatt Mayor Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints. A. Hyatt Mayor's father was marine biologist Alfre ...

, and the great-grandfather of actress

Yeardley Smith Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''. Smith became an actress in 1982 aft ...

Works

* ''Rhythmical pulsation in Scyphomedusae'', 1906 * ''Medusae of the World'', 1910

Species named after Mayer

* '' Ectopleura mayeri'' Petersen, 1990 * '' Rissoina mayori'' Dall, 1925 * '' Eutiara mayeri'' Bigelow, 1918 * '' Melicertissa mayeri'' Kramp, 1959 * '' Lobonema mayeri'' Light, 1914 * '' Coeloseris mayeri'' Vaughan, 1918 * '' Porites mayeri'' Vaughan, 1918 * likely '' Gadila mayori'' Henderson, 1920

References

External links

Alfred Goldsborough Mayer on www.tmbl.gu.se
American entomologists Cnidariologists 1868 births 1922 deaths Stevens Institute of Technology alumni Harvard University alumni Mayer family {{US-entomologist-stub