Overview
- Provides a scholarly and insightful analysis of the intentions and beliefs of Louis Agassiz
- Discusses the implications of Louis Agassiz's papers on today's research
- Includes facsimile of original print of Louis Agassiz's lectures
- Over 100 black-and-white engravings illustrating plants and animals
- Extensively commented and annotated by the Editor
Part of the book series: Classic Texts in the Sciences (CTS)
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Table of contents (3 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book features Louis Agassiz’s seminal lecture course in which the Swiss-American scientist, a self-styled “American Humboldt,” summarized the state of zoological knowledge in his time. Though Darwin’s theory of evolution would soon dismantle his idealist science, Agassiz’s lectures are nonetheless modern in their insistence on the social and cultural importance of the scientific enterprise.
An extensive, well-illustrated introduction by Agassiz’s biographer, Christoph Irmscher, situates Agassiz’s lectures in the context of his life and nineteenth-century science, while also confronting the deeply problematic aspects of his legacy. Profusely annotated, this edition offers fascinating insights into the history of science and appeals to anyone with an interest in zoology and natural history.
“Christoph Irmscher provides a scholarly and insightful analysis of the intentions and beliefs of Louis Agassiz, a larger-than-life scientist of the mid-19th century and fierce opponent of Charles Darwin. One of the foremost naturalists of his time, Agassiz’s encyclopedic knowledge and brash confidence sustained bold and often controversial theories, which contributed to extreme intellectual ferment at the dawn of contemporary evolutionary biology.” James Hanken, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Harvard University, USA
Authors, Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Author of 'Louis Agassiz, Creator of American Science' featured by the New York Times Book Review
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Introduction to the Study of Natural History
Book Subtitle: Edited and Annotated by Christoph Irmscher
Authors: Louis Agassiz
Editors: Christoph Irmscher
Series Title: Classic Texts in the Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66081-3
Publisher: Birkhäuser Cham
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-66079-0Published: 23 November 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88171-3Published: 04 September 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-66081-3Published: 26 October 2017
Series ISSN: 2365-9963
Series E-ISSN: 2365-9971
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 126
Number of Illustrations: 74 illustrations in colour
Topics: Plant Sciences, Zoology