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David Starr Jordan

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: David Starr Jordan
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(born Jan. 19, 1851, near Gainesville, N.Y., U.S. — died Sept. 19, 1931, Stanford, Calif.) U.S. educator and ichthyologist. He studied at Cornell University and taught at universities in Indiana until 1885, when he became president of Indiana University. In 1891 he became the first president of Stanford University, and served until 1913. His extensive field trips led to his naming 1,085 genera and more than 2,500 species of fishes. He was coauthor (with B.W. Evermann) of The Fishes of North and Middle America (1896 – 1900) and author of Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States (13 editions, 1876 – 1929). He devoted his later career mainly to the cause of international peace, acting as chief director of the World Peace Foundation.

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Biography: David Starr Jordan
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David Starr Jordan (1851-1931), American scientist and university administrator, distinguished himself as a teacher of biology, an ichthyologist, and an influential college president.

David Starr Jordan was born in Gainesville, N.Y., on Jan. 19, 1851. In 1869 he entered Cornell University and was awarded both his bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees 3 years later. He served as instructor in botany in Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill., in 1872-1873, and the following year he was principal of the Appleton Collegiate Institute in Wisconsin. After attending a school of science established by the famous scientist Louis Agassiz, Jordan became professor of natural history at Northwestern Christian College (later Butler University) in 1875. He received a medical degree in 1875 and 3 years later a doctorate in philosophy.

In 1879 Jordan became chairman of the department of natural sciences at Indiana University, where he distinguished himself as a teacher of organic evolution and bionomics. His research in ichthyology resulted in numerous publications, of which the most famous is Synopsis of Fishes of North America (1882).

Jordan became president of Indiana University in 1885 and during his 6 years in office instituted the concept of a major field of academic study for college students. In 1891 he became president of Stanford University and served in this position until 1913, when he became chancellor. Jordan's speeches and writings gained him a place among the great leaders in American higher education. His recognition of the need and importance of students' selecting their own subjects for study from the total range of the university program led to the introduction of the elective system at Stanford.

Many of Jordan's critical and scholarly assessments of higher education are contained in The Voice of the Scholar. This book consists of addresses delivered on such subjects as "The Personality of the University," "The University and the Common Man," "The Woman and the University," "The University of the United States," and "College Spirit."

Jordan held numerous important positions as an ichthyologist. He was assistant to the U.S. Fish Commission, head of the American commission to study the fur seals in the Bering Sea, and member of the International Commission for Fisheries. He was also chief director of the World Peace Congress and one of the original trustees of the Carnegie Foundation. He died Sept. 19, 1931, having served as chancellor emeritus of Stanford for 15 years.

Further Reading

A carefully written, detailed account of Jordan's life and work is his own The Days of a Man (2 vols., 1922). A biography, as well as an exposition of Jordan's social and political ideas, is in Edward McNall Burns, David Starr Jordan (1953). For his role as university president see Orrin Leslie Elliott, Stanford University: The First Twenty-five Years (1937).

Additional Sources

Moran, Hugh Anderson, David Starr Jordan, his spirit and decision of character, Palo Alto, Calif., Daily Press, 1969.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: David Starr Jordan
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Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931, American scientist and educator, b. Gainesville, N.Y., M.S. Cornell, 1872, M.D. Indiana Medical College, 1875, and studied under Louis Agassiz at Penikese Island. He taught (1875-79) at Butler Univ. and in 1879 became professor of zoology and head of the department of natural science at Indiana Univ.; there he was president from 1885 to 1891. He served as the first president (1891-1913) of Stanford Univ. and as chancellor (1913-16). A prolific writer and a popular speaker, he was active as director (1910-14) of the World Peace Foundation and president (1915) of the World Peace Congress. Peace and international arbitration were the subjects of his books The Human Harvest (1907) and War and Waste (1913). As a leading ichthyologist, Jordan served on international commissions for fisheries and as assistant (1877-91, 1894-1909) to the U.S. Fish Commission. His earliest important work, A Manual of the Vertebrate Animals of Northern United States (1876), went through many editions. He also wrote The Fishes of North and Middle America (4 vol., 1896-1900), A Guide to the Study of Fishes (2 vol., 1905), Your Family Tree (with S. L. Kimball, 1929), and Trend of the American University (1929).

Bibliography

See his autobiographical Days of a Man (2 vol., 1922); biography by H. A. Moran (1969).

Quotes By: David Starr Jordan
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Quotes:

"The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going."

"Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for."

"There is no real excellence in all this world which can be separated from right living."

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it."

Wikipedia: David Starr Jordan
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David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan as a young man (1868) from Days of a Man

David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist (the study of fish), educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.

Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York, and studied at Cornell University, Butler University, and the Indiana University School of Medicine.[1] In 1885, he was named President of Indiana University, becoming the nation's youngest university president at age 34.[1] In 1891, he became president of Stanford, serving there as president until 1913 and chancellor until his retirement in 1916.[1]

Although highly regarded as an ichthyologist, Jordan was best known for being a peace activist. He argued that war was detrimental to the human species because it removed the strongest organisms from the gene pool. Jordan was president of the World Peace Foundation from 1910 to 1914 and president of the World Peace Conference in 1915, and opposed U.S. involvement in World War I.[1]

In 1925, Jordan was an expert witness for the defense in the Scopes Trial.[1] That same year, he was listed member in the Bohemian Club and the University Club in San Francisco.[2]

Jordan's papers are housed at Swarthmore College.[1]

Contents

Monuments and memorials

Notable works

  • Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States (1876)
  • Science sketches (1887)
  • Fishes of North and Middle America (four volumes, 1896-1900)
  • Animal Life: A First Book of Zoölogy (1900), with Vernon L. Kellog
  • The Philosophy of Despair (1901)
  • Food and Game Fishes of North America (1902), with Barton Warren Evermann|B. W. Evermann
  • Guide to the Study of Fishes (1905)
  • Life's Enthusiasms (1906)
  • Days of a Man (1922) - autobiography
  • The Blood of the Nation
  • War and Waste (1913)
  • War's Aftermath (1914), with H. E. Jordan
  • Ways of Lasting Peace
  • Democracy and World Relations
  • Imperial Democracy
  • Shore Fishes of Hawaii
  • The Fish Fauna of the Tortugas Archipelago (with Dr. Joseph Cheesman Thompson) published for the US Bureau of Fisheries
  • "California and the Californians" (1911)

Eponymy

The genera Jordania Starks, 1895, Davidijordania Popov, 1931, and Jordanella Goode & Bean, 1879 are named after him.

Species named after him include:

  • Agonomalus jordani Jordan & Starks, 1904.
  • Agonomalus jordani Schmidt, 1904.
  • Allocareproctus jordani (Burke, 1930).
  • Astyanax jordani (Hubbs & Innes, 1936).
  • Caelorinchus jordani Smith & Pope, 1906.
  • Caulophryne jordani Goode & Bean, 1896.
  • Chimaera jordani Tanaka, 1905.
  • Charal, Chirostoma jordani Woolman, 1894.
  • Jordan's tuskfish, Choerodon jordani (Snyder, 1908).
  • Flame wrasse, Cirrhilabrus jordani Snyder, 1904.
  • Smooth lumpfish, Cyclopteropsis jordani Soldatov, 1929.
  • Diplacanthopoma jordani Garman, 1899.
  • Mimic triplefin, Enneanectes jordani (Evermann & Marsh, 1899).
  • Petrale sole, Eopsetta jordani (Lockington, 1879).
  • Greenbreast darter, Etheostoma jordani Gilbert, 1891.
  • Gadella jordani (Böhlke & Mead, 1951).
  • Yellow Irish lord, Hemilepidotus jordani Bean, 1881.
  • Brokenline lanternfish, Lampanyctus jordani Gilbert, 1913.
  • Jordan's snapper, Lutjanus jordani (Gilbert, 1898).
  • Shortjaw eelpout, Lycenchelys jordani (Evermann & Goldsborough, 1907).
  • Malthopsis jordani Gilbert, 1905.
  • Gulf grouper, Mycteroperca jordani (Jenkins & Evermann, 1889).
  • Neosalanx jordani Wakiya & Takahashi, 1937.
  • Patagonotothen jordani (Thompson, 1916).
  • Ptychidio jordani Myers, 1930.
  • Northern ronquil, Ronquilus jordani (Gilbert, 1889).
  • Shortbelly rockfish, Sebastes jordani (Gilbert, 1896).
  • Jordan's damsel, Teixeirichthys jordani (Rutter, 1897).
  • Jordan's sculpin, Triglops jordani (Schmidt, 1903).

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Papers of David Starr Jordan, CDG-A, Swarthmore College Peace Collection
  2. ^ Dulfer & Hoag. Our Society Blue Book, pp. 177–178. San Francisco, Dulfer & Hoag, 1925.
  3. ^ NOAA Ship DAVID STARR JORDAN at www.moc.noaa.gov

External links

Preceded by
Lemuel Moss		 President of Indiana University
1884–1891		 Succeeded by
John Merle Coulter
Preceded by
None		 President of Stanford University
1891–1913		 Succeeded by
John C. Branner
v • d • e
Presidents of Indiana University
Wylie • Ryors • Daily • Lathrop • Nutt • Moss • Jordan • Coulter • Swain • Bryan • Wells • Stahr • Sutton • Ryan • Ehrlich • Brand • Herbert • McRobbie

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Quotes By. Copyright © 2008 QuotationsBook.com. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "David Starr Jordan".  Read more