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Joseph Leidy: The Last Man Who Knew Everything
Contemporaries of the modest and unassuming scientist Joseph Leidy (1823–91) revered him as the supreme consultant in questions relating to human anatomy, paleontology, protozoology, parasitology, anthropology, mineralogy, botany, and numerous other scientific fields. Leidy’s achievements and the breadth of his scientific interests and knowledge were astonishing. He seemed, in short, to be the man who knew everything.
This is the first published biography of the remarkable Joseph Leidy―a leading American scientist of the mid-nineteenth century, the foremost human anatomist of his time, the first truly productive microscopist, the author of numerous groundbreaking scientific papers and books, and a devoted professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College. An unflagging pioneer and an exceptional illustrator, Leidy was the first in America to use the microscope as a tool in forensic medicine. He established the concept of parasitism in America. He was also the father of American protozoology and parasitology, describing for the first time Trichina in the pig, the source of the human disease trichinosis. As the founder of American vertebrate paleontology, he was the first to describe a dinosaur and many other extinct animals in America. Leonard Warren provides a full account of Leidy’s life and accomplishments and sets them in the social and historical context of Philadelphia and the United States in Leidy’s day. Warren also explores the reasons for the puzzling disparity between Leidy’s fame and recognition during his life and virtual anonymity a century after his death.
This is the first published biography of the remarkable Joseph Leidy―a leading American scientist of the mid-nineteenth century, the foremost human anatomist of his time, the first truly productive microscopist, the author of numerous groundbreaking scientific papers and books, and a devoted professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College. An unflagging pioneer and an exceptional illustrator, Leidy was the first in America to use the microscope as a tool in forensic medicine. He established the concept of parasitism in America. He was also the father of American protozoology and parasitology, describing for the first time Trichina in the pig, the source of the human disease trichinosis. As the founder of American vertebrate paleontology, he was the first to describe a dinosaur and many other extinct animals in America. Leonard Warren provides a full account of Leidy’s life and accomplishments and sets them in the social and historical context of Philadelphia and the United States in Leidy’s day. Warren also explores the reasons for the puzzling disparity between Leidy’s fame and recognition during his life and virtual anonymity a century after his death.
323 pages, Hardcover
First published October 11, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 26, 2023
I'm talking everyone's ears off about this!
I used this as a source to write this: https://www.americaisweird.com/new-je...
I used this as a source to write this: https://www.americaisweird.com/new-je...
July 19, 2021
Excellent biography of this interesting early American polymath, if not quite enough of his vertebrate fossils work for me. I was hoping to learn more about his wife Anna too but had to go elsewhere but Leidy clearly did assist women with their need to get into science and natural history in 19th century Philadelphia. Learnt a lot about the relationship of early-mid 19th C American thinking about their scientific progress as compared to Europe at that time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews