Jacob Whitman Bailey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1811-04-29)April 29, 1811 Auburn, Massachusetts |
| Died | February 26, 1857(1857-02-26) (aged 45) West Point, New York |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | West Point |
| Occupation | Naturalist |
Jacob Whitman Bailey (1811–1857) was an Americannaturalist, known as the pioneer inmicroscopic research in America.[1]: 9–10
Jacob Whitman Bailey was born inAuburn, Massachusetts on April 29, 1811, and in 1832 graduated atWest Point, where, after 1834, he was successively assistant professor, acting professor, and professor ofchemistry,mineralogy, andgeology.[2] At West Point he studied withJohn Torrey. He devised various improvements in the construction of themicroscope and made an extensive collection of microscopic objects and ofalgae, which he left to theBoston Society of Natural History. In 1857 he waspresident of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a member of theNational Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor to theSmithsonian Institution. He was elected an Associate Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 1845.[3] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1852.[4]
Bailey and his son William were survivors of the steamboatHenry Clay disaster on July 28, 1852, though his wife and daughter, both named Maria, were among the casualties.[2]
He wrote many articles on scientific subjects for theAmerican Journal of Science and for scientific societies, a report on the infusorialfossils of California, and a valuable volume ofMicroscopical Sketches, containing 3000 original figures.
Bailey died on February 26, 1857, at the beginning of his term of office as President of the AAAS. On August 19, 1857,Augustus Addison Gould delivered a speech to the AAAS in commemoration of Bailey's life. The speech was subsequently published in theAmerican Journal of Science and Arts, volume xxv (second series), (New Haven, May 1858).[5]The standardauthor abbreviationBailey is used to indicate this person as the author whenciting abotanical name.[6]
The genusBaileya (desert marigolds), a North American genus of sun-loving wildflowers native to the deserts of northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States, were named by botanistsWilliam Henry Harvey andAsa Gray in honor of their colleague Jacob Whitman Bailey.
It was Jacob Whitman Bailey that Lieut. Matthew Fontaine Maury wrote a letter to inquiring as to the material from the sea floor brought up with Lt. John Mercer Brook's deep-sea soundings and core samples. From that it was determined that the sea floor where the trans-Atlantic Cable was laid because the samples showed Lieut. M. F. Maury that his "Telegraphic Plateau" was perfect for the underwater cable. The samples Maury sent proved the "Telegraphic Plateau" samples were non-abrasive for such a cable to be laid.
Bailey was buried at theWest Point Cemetery.[7]
Also see pages 345+ ]
"Bailey, Jacob Whitman".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. 1906. pp. 182–183.