David Starr Jordan
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David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was a leading ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.
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[edit] Biography
Born into a farm family of Gainesville, New York, he entered the newly-established Cornell University as an undergraduate in 1866, and received a master's degree in 1872; he was an instructor in botany at Cornell beginning in 1870.
He then moved to Indianapolis and acquired an MD from Indiana Medical College (1875), after lecturing in 1874 on marine botany at the Anderson summer school of natural history at Penikese Island, Massachusetts, and on botany and ichthyology at the Harvard School of Geology in 1875.
He earned Ph.D. from Butler University in 1878, taking up a professorship in science at Indiana University in 1879.
From 1879 through 1881 he was a special agent of the United States census for the marine industries of the Pacific coast, and he also held appointments at various times with United States Fish Commission, beginning in 1877 and extending through 1891.
He was appointed president of Indiana University on January 1, 1885, and then went to Stanford in 1891 to become its first president, later becoming its chancellor in 1913, in order to have more time available for his peace activities (a new trustee by the name of Herbert Hoover helped arrange this). Jordan retired in 1916.
Over time, evidence has surfaced that to some suggests that Jordan may have had a role in the alleged murder of University Co-founder Jane Stanford. [1]
He was president of the California Academy of Sciences from 1896 to 1904 and after 1908. He was also president of the World Peace Foundation from 1910 to 1914 and chaired the World Peace Conference in 1915.
Jordan was an extremely prolific writer, with 650 articles and books on ichthyology alone, and 1,400 other works. As of 1881, Jordan had already published about 250 papers on North American ichthyology, also the Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States.
Jordan is somewhat notable in the fields of political science and international relations for his optimistic statements about the future of the world before the outbreak of World War I. According to the book "Understanding International Conflicts" by Joseph Nye, Jordan incorrectly predicted in 1910 that nations would not go to war in the future because it would cause too much damage to their economies.
The following are named after him
- NOAA research vessel David Starr Jordan [2]
- David Starr Jordan High School in Los Angeles, California,
- David Starr Jordan High School in Long Beach, California
- David Starr Jordan Junior High in Burbank, California
- Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto, California,
- "Jordan River", a stream flowing through the Indiana University campus, and Jordan Hall, the biology building at IU
- Jordan Avenue in Bloomington.
- Jordan Hall, a large classroom and academic building on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis
[edit] 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)
- The Philosophy of Despair (1901)
- Food and Game Fishes of North America (1902), with 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
[edit] 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).
[edit] References
- Edward McNall Burns, David Starr Jordan: Prophet of Freedom (Stanford, 1953)
- Alice N. Hays, David Starr Jordan: A Bibliography of His Writings 1871-1931 (Stanford, 1952)
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
[edit] External links
- History of Stanford motto, with Jordan bio info
- Works by David Starr Jordan at Project Gutenberg
- Official NOAA page for the research ship David Starr Jordan
| Preceded by None |
President of Stanford University 1891–1913 |
Succeeded by John C. Branner |
