C.H. Eigenmann, circa 1924
C.H. Eigenmann, circa 1924
born:
March 9, 1863 in Flehingen, Germany
died:
April 24, 1927 in San Diego, California
Carl H. Eigenmann was one of the most talented and well respected men in the ichthyological world. He was born in a small town in Germany in 1863 and at fourteen moved to Rockport, Indiana. Within two years of his arrival in the United States he was capable enough with the English language to enroll in the University of Indiana, where he studied under David Starr Jordan. Under the tutelage of Jordan, Eigenmann would develop his interest in biology into a love for ichthyology and began publishing with works on darters, eleotrids, and diodontids. In 1886 he received his Bachelors degree from Indiana University and traveled to California where he met and later married Rosa Smith on August 20, 1887. Ms. Smith was already gaining fame for her papers on West Coast fisheries. The newlyweds then traveled to Harvard University, where they were able to study the Thayer Expedition collections of Louis Agassiz and Hassler Expedition collections of Franz Steindachner, thus beginning the "Eigenmann and Eigenmann" publication series, including Preliminary Notes on South American Nematognathi (1888 ), A revision of The South American Nematognathi (1890), and Catalogue of the Fresh-water Fishes of South America (1891) and an overwhelming interest in neotropical fishes.
In 1888 the Eigenmanns moved back to San Diego where he became the curator of a local natural history society and helped establish the San Diego Biological Laboratory. Eigenmann received the Ph.D. from IU in 1889 and in 1891 was offered a position at the University of Indiana as Professor of Zoology. In 1892 Dr. Günther of the British Museum financed his first expedition. The trip was to explore fishes of the Pacific and Atlantic slope. The trip took him through the Northwestern United States and throughout western Canada. After the expedition Eigenmann showed an interest in the blind fishes that live in the freshwater caves of Indiana. This interest brought him to fresh water caves in Indiana, Texas, and Missouri throughout the 1890's. All of these expeditions brought Eigenmann national attention due to discovery of new blind cave salamanders (Typhomolge, Typhlotrition). Then in 1902 through a grant from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Eigenmann was able to travel to the blind fish caves of Cuba. The Carnegie Institution made it possible for him to go back to the island several more times between 1902 and 1904.
In 1906 Eigenmann left for Europe to attend lectures by Weismann and Wiedersheim at the University of Freiburg. While in Europe Eigenmann studied type specimens among the collections of South American fresh water fishes in the museums of London, Paris, and Vienna; he then returned to the United States in 1907 and was named the Dean of the graduate school at his almamater in 1908. In working on the Brazilian Characidae and monograph based on the Thayer collection, Eigenmann realized that material assembled in the major museums by the early explorers was not adequate for a thorough understanding of the neotropical fauna, thus providing the motivation for eventual fieldwork in South America. Although he did not participate in the fieldwork, Eigenmann was influential in urging Congress to undertake a survey of the Panama region done before the completion of the canal. He stated that "the Panama Canal when completed, would destroy natural barriers and cause the faunas of two slopes to migrate to a great extent". In 1907, one of Eigenmann's former students, John D. Haseman, made a collecting trip for the Carnegie Museum to Central South America. The Haseman collections rival in quality and importance to those of the Thayer Expedition and represent regions of central South America not covered by the latter. It is interesting to note that the Carnegie Expedition took place apparently after the falling-out between Haseman and Eigenmann. There is little available published information on the basis of the problem between the two, however, it is generally known that Haseman was strong-minded and critical of several of Eigenmann's projects, principally his biogeographic hypotheses. Haseman never completed studies for his degree and became a pseudo-professional collector.
In 1908 Eigenmann and Mr. E.S. Shideler got the financial support of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. The financial support he was given made his first expedition to South America possible. In September of 1908 Eigenmann departed for Georgetown for The Carnegie British Guiana Expedition with his assistants and volunteers. They returned back to New York with a collection of 25,000 specimens. The trip was a huge success by yielding 28 new genera and 128 new species. The expedition made his relationship with the Carnegie Museum closer, and he was named honorary curator of fishes. In 1912 Eigenmann undertook the IU Colombian Expedition. This trip took him through western Colombia, and most of Panama. The collections taken on the trip were brought to the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh for study. Eigenmann would travel on one more expedition, the 1918 IU Irwin Expedition. This trip would take Eigenmann and his daughter (Adele) to the high Andes of Peru, La Paz in Bolivia, and Chile to study the fishes of high elevations on the Pacific slope. The expedition returned home in 1919. Eigenmann had gotten sick on the on the trip, and would never make an other one.
Carl H. Eigemann's influence on modern ichthyology can be seen in both his laboratory and field work, along with the success of his students and fellow ichthyologists whom he influenced in one way or another. Eigenmann's students and associates John D. Haseman (Carnegie Museum Expedition to Central South America) and Arthur Henn and Charles E. Wilson (IU Landon- Fisher Expedition to Columbia) all made huge contributions to the advancement of ichthyology. Eigenmann also influenced William R. Allen (Centennial Expedition), Nathan R. Pearson (Mulford Expedition) , and Dr. Carl Ternetz (IU Northern South America Expedition) by assisting them in the setting up of their expeditions. The following years were spent writing and finishing reports from previous expeditions and studies. In 1922 Eigenmann completed a summary of his South American work, entitled The Fishes of the Pacific Slope of South America and the Bearing of their Distribution on the History and Development of the Topography of Peru, Ecuador, and Western Colombia". He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1923. On April 24, 1927 Carl H. Eigenmann died in a small, private hospital in San Diego.
(see also expeditions of Eigenmann’s students: Haseman, Henn & Wilson, Allen)
Last modified:
April 11, 1997
Colin
T. Barber &
Scott Schaefer schaefer@amnh.org