Spencer Fullerton Baird - Washington, DC - Dead Poets' Society Memorials on Waymarking.com

Located outside the Smithsonian Castle.
This bronze sculpture, although life-sized or slightly larger is not intended to be a natural likeness of its subject, naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird. Baird is depicted with an over-sized body wearing a long jacket over non-distinct pants that fuse together to almost form a skirt. His head is small and he has a beard. He clasps his hands behind his back.
The inscription on the stone plinth reads:

"SPENCER
FULLERTON
BAIRD

1823 - 1887

SECOND SECRETARY
OF THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUION

PIONEER
IN AMERICAN
NATURAL HISTORY"

The artist is Leonard Baskin and it is dated 1978.

Wikipedia (visit link) informs us:

"Spencer Fullerton Baird (... February 3, 1823 – August 19, 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist, and museum curator. Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution. He would eventually serve as assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1850 to 1878, and as Secretary from 1878 until 1887. He was dedicated to expanding the natural history collections of the Smithsonian which he increased from 6,000 specimens in 1850 to over 2 million by the time of his death. He published over 1,000 works during his lifetime...

Starting at the Smithsonian

In 1850, Baird became the first curator at the Smithsonian Institution and the Permanent Secretary for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the latter which he served for three years. Upon his arrival in Washington, he brought two railroad box cars worth of his personal collection. Baird would create a museum program for the Smithstonian, requesting that the organization focus on natural history in the United States. His program also allowed him to create a network of collectors through an exchange system. He would ask that members of the Army and Navy collect rare animals and plant specimens from west of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. In order to balance the collection, Baird sent duplicate specimens to other museums around the country, often exchanging the duplicates for specimens the Smithsonian needed. During the 1850s he described over 50 new species of reptiles, some by himself, and others with his student Charles Frédéric Girard. Their 1853 catalog of the Smithsonian's snake collection is a benchmark work in North American herpetology. Baird also was a mentor to herpetologist Robert Kennicott who died prematurely, at which point Baird left the field of herpetology to focus on larger projects.

Eventually, he became the Assistant Secretary, serving under Joseph Henry. As Assistant, Baird would help develop a publication and journal exchange, that provided scientists around the world with publications they would have a hard time accessing. He supported the work of William Stimpson, Robert Kennicott, Henry Ulke and Henry Bryant. Between his start as Assistant Secretary and 1855, he worked with Joseph Henry to provide scientific equipment and needs to the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. He received his Ph.D. in physical science in 1856 from Dickinson College. In 1857 and 1852 he acquired the collection of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science. However, the objects wouldn't join the permanent collection of the Smithsonian until 1858. Baird would attend the funeral of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, alongside Joseph Henry. In 1870, Baird was vacationing in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he developed an interest in maritime research. He would go on to lead expeditions in Nova Scotia and New England."

Good Reads (visit link) shows one of his works as "On the Serpents of New York".

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/26/2014 Metro2 visited it