doctoral_advisor relations death_date death_place children birth_place awards image_size notable_students field birth_date spouse signature image article_title academic_advisors name alma_mater
carl friedrich philipp von martius robert gould shaw ii -lrb- grandson -rrb- 14 december 1873 cambridge , massachusetts , u.s. alexander emanuel agassiz ida agassiz pauline agassiz haut-vully , switzerland wollaston medal -lrb- 1836 -rrb- 220px william stimpson paleontology glaciology geology natural history 28 may 1807 cecilie braun elizabeth cabot cary appletons ' agassiz jean louis rudolphe signature.svg louis agassiz h6.jpg louis agassiz
 ignaz döllinger louis agassiz university of erlangen-nuremberg
louis agassiz

jean louis rodolphe agassiz -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- may 28 , 1807 -- december 14 , 1873 -rrb- , commonly known as louis agassiz , was a swiss-born and european-trained biologist and geologist recognized as an innovative and prodigious scholar of earth 's natural history , with later american writings that have received scrutiny because of particular racial themes .
agassiz grew up in switzerland , and studied and received doctor of philosophy and medical degrees at erlangen and munich , respectively .
after further studies with cuvier and von humboldt in paris , agassiz proceeded with research leading to his appointment as professor of natural history at university of neuchâtel .
after visiting harvard university mid-career , he emigrated to the u.s. in 1847 and became a professor of zoology and geology at harvard , and to head its lawrence scientific school and found its museum of comparative zoology .
agassiz made extensive contributions to ichthyological classification -lrb- including of extinct species -rrb- and to the study of geological history -lrb- including to the founding of glaciology -rrb- , and has become broadly known through study of his thorough regimen of observational data gathering and analysis .
he made vast institutional and scientific contributions to zoology , geology , and related areas -- including many multi-volume research series running to thousands of pages .
his reputation has however been somewhat tarnished in hindsight by the evidence of his resistance to theories of darwinian evolution , and his extensive later writings on human polygenism .
