Asa Gray: American Botanist, Friend of Darwin [Paperback]

A. Hunter Dupree (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1988

The leading American botanist of the nineteenth century, Asa Gray helped organize the main generalizations of the science of plant geography. The manual of botany that carries his name is still in use today. Friend and confidant of Charles Darwin, Gray became the most persistent and effective American protagonist of Darwin's views. Yet at the same time, he believed that religion and Darwin's theory of natural selection could coexist. A. Hunter Dupree's authoritative biography offers the first full-length interpretation of one of America's most important men of science.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dupree's treatment transcends Gray as an individual and depicts, in fascinating detail, the alarms and excursions of 19th-century biology... This biography of Asa Gray is definitive.

(Science, reviewing the first edition )

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (October 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801837413
• ISBN-13: 978-0801837418
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,381,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent; 4.5 Stars, August 4, 2009

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Asa Gray: American Botanist, Friend of Darwin (Paperback)

This fine biography is informative in 3 related ways. It is an excellent narrative and analysis of the life of a major 19th century American scientist, provides valuable information about the institutional development of American science, and is an insightful look at the reception of Darwin's ideas in the USA. Asa Gray was one of the major American scientific figures of mid-19th century America. Born, raised, and educated in upstate New York, Gray trained as a physician but his interest in natural history led him to botany, becoming the protege of the then preeminent American botanist John Torrey. By dint of his considerable intellectual abilities, hard work, and some luck, Gray became a Professor at Harvard and one of the few professional scientists in the USA. At a time when descriptive botany and taxonomy were at the forefront of biology, Gray became the center of a network of American plant scientists. The expansion of the USA across the continent and his alliance with prominent British and European botanists provided him with what was an overwhelming amount of material but also a preeminent position in world botany. By the 1850s, Gray was major figure in American science with leadership roles in important American scientific institutions and journals.

Gray became a major figure in plant taxonomy and pioneer in plant biogeography, which had great importance in his acceptance of Darwin's ideas. As a very active taxonomist, Gray was preoccupied with issues of classification and had to consider carefully the issues of what constituted a species and the relationships of species and genera. These issues led Gray to a rather modern concept of species, emphasizing morphological similarity but also interbreeding and genetic relationships. Given the complete absence of any knowledge of genetics, this was a brilliant intuition. Dupress shows nicely how Gray's preoccupation with species relationships, his concept of species, and his considerable knowledge of plant distributions prepared Gray's mind for Darwin's ideas. Gray became Darwin's leading advocate in the USA. He leant his considerable prestige to Darwin's cause, assisted publication of his books, and wrote articles explicating and defending Darwin's ideas. Gray enjoyed both warm professional and personal relations with Darwin until the latter's death.

Gray's advocacy of Darwin exacerbated a conflict with another great figure of American science, the flamboyant Swiss-American naturalist Louis Agassiz. Even before the conflict over Darwin, Gray and Agassiz exemplified very different approaches to science with Agassiz propounding a highly romantic and idealistic (in the Platonic sense) form of science. Agassiz was also at the heart of very ambitious plans to reshape American science, both in Boston and nationwide, into a form that Gray found unattractive. In almost all the debates, and most importantly the one over Darwin's ideas, Agassiz was defeated.

Dupree is particularly good on the intersection of Gray's approach to science, issues of philosophy, and religion. Gray's approach to science, unlike Agassiz, was highly empirical and inspired in good part by the idea of looking for evidence of divine design. A sincerely religious man, though not doctrinaire, Gray worked hard to reconcile his biology with Christianity. Since he never endorsed biblical inerrancy, literal departures from Scripture were no obstacle for him. The potential of Darwin's ideas for exploding the argument from design was a concern and Gray became an advocate of a form of theistic evolution. Dupree suggests that some of Gray's thinking on the relationship of science to religion and other issues had unexpected consequences, becoming an influence of the American pragmatists.

Written very well, this book is a very enjoyable read, and quite illuminating about 19th century America.

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in the history of science, May 25, 2011

By 

Justin Fox (Cambridge, Mass.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asa Gray: American Botanist, Friend of Darwin (Paperback)

I'm writing this several years after having read the book (my memory jogged by the news that the U.S. Postal Service will be coming out with an Asa Gray stamp soon), so I can't be as detailed as I would like. But this is a remarkable book, surely one of the best biographies of an American scientist ever written. It starts by evoking the lost world of Gray's youth in upstate New York, then a part of the country brimming with economic and intellectual activity (did you know there was once a medical school in the Adirondacks?). It then moves on to detail his work in New York City with pioneering botanist John Torrey, his appointment at Harvard, his building of the botanical collections there, his battles with Louis Agassiz, and his remarkable correspondence and collaboration with Charles Darwin. The result is an extraordinarily rich portrait of 19th century scientific life.