Marine Biological Hall of Distinction: Richard Rathbun
- The Persaud Foundation
- Feb 25
- 6 min read
This article is part of our Marine Hall of Distinction collection. In this special collection, we discuss the marine biologists who have contributed most to marine biology & oceanography. We do this to commemorate these marine biologists & show gratitude for everything they have contributed to our oceans. Today's marine scientist is Richard Rathbun.
Richard Rathbun was one of the most distinguished authorities on marine science in the 19th, & early 20th century. He was an essential figure to the development of the Smithsonian Institution, & was well known for his work with invertebrate zoology. He was extraordinarily accomplished in the fields of marine sciences, museum sciences, palaeontology, & geology.
In today’s article, we will delve into his formative years & education, his personal life & career, as well as his achievements, awards, & accomplishments. With that being said, let’s plunge into the fascinating life of Richard Rathbun!
His Formative Years & Education
Richard Rathbun was born on January 25th, 1852, in Buffalo, New York. He was born to Charles Rathbun, & Jane Furey Rathbun. His father, Charles, was a descendant of a lineage of enterprising stone masons that immigrated from England during the early 1600's, & operated numerous successful quarries around the greater Buffalo area.
He was educated as a young man in Buffalo Public Schools, & at the age of 15 years, began working as an overseer & financial clerk in one of his father’s quarries. Upon joining the quarry, he noticed that they would frequently stumble across Silurian-era fossils. This fascinated him deeply, leading him to spend his weekends, evenings, & even holidays researching palaeontology.
This fervent interest led him to donate numerous fossils to the Boston Society of Natural Sciences, so much so that he was installed as the curator of palaeontology for their museum.
In 1871, he met Charles Fred Hartt, a professor of geology at Cornell University. Dr. Hartt saw a fire in young Rathbun, encouraging him to join Cornell Universities geology program. Rathbun obliged, & entered the University that year, alongside the cohort of 1875. Dr. Hartt also assigned him the task of reviewing, & analyzing a collection of Devonian & Cretaceous fossils that Hartt had collected in Brazil, leading to the publication of his first paper “On Devonian Brachiopods of Erere, Province of Pará, Brazil”, in the bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. To prepare & gather information for the paper, he spent time under the guidance of James Hall.
Soon after, he published “Preliminary Report on Cretaceous Lamellibranchs collected in the vicinity of Pernambuco, Brazil”, in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1874. For research purposes, he attended the lectures of the prestigious Alexander Agassiz, during the last year of his life.
His Personal Life & Career
After spending 2 years at Cornell, he decided to leave, deciding to work with the Museum of Comparative Ecology, as well as be an assistant in zoology with the Boston Society of Natural History. He stayed in these roles from 1873, to 1875. During the summer months of these years, he volunteered under the guidance of Spencer Fullerton Baird, joining oceanic expeditionsl by the United States Fish Commission along the New England Coast. This sparked his connection with the Smithsonian Institution, as they took a prominent role in leading these expeditions. This connection would last for the rest of his life.
In 1875, his mentor Professor Charles F. Hartt arranged for him to be appointed as a a geologist with the Geological Commission of Brazil. This allowed him to conduct a multitude of expeditions in the Bay of Bahia region, study the local fossils, the ethnology of the local people, & the coral reefs. A report on the geology & local coral reefs was published in 1878, through the National Museum of Sao Paulo.
Upon returning to the United States in March, 1878, he donated a variety of Devonian & Cretaceous Era fossils to the United States National Museum. His connection with Spencer F. Baird lead him to entering the position of Scientific Assistant for the United States Fish Commission, a position which he stayed in until 1896.
In 1880, as the United States National Museum was close to completion, he was transferred from New Haven, Connecticut, to Washington D.C. Upon being transferred, he would be appointed curator of marine invertebrates of the National Museum, while maintaining his position at the United States Commission of Fish. The administrative work assigned to Rathbun gradually grew until his mentor Spencer F. Baird’s death, in 1887.
During research conducted in collaboration with marine scientist & professor A. E. Verill, Dr. Verill was made the official head of certain summer investigations with the Fish Commission. Although he was the technical head, Rathbun was the primary overseer of these collections, & handled day to day maintenance. He also worked to create duplicates of their marine invertebrate collection to send to other institutions such as museums, schools, & universities.
Between 1880, & 1881, he was hired by the Tenth Census to research & report on the natural history & economic values of lobster, shrimp, crab, sponge, & corals. He contributed approximately 550 pages to this project, along with 106 plates. He would go on later to release similar papers on the decrease in lobster population, cultural value of lobsters, prawn & shrimp fisheries, fisheries in Washington state, fisheries in British Columbia, & giant squid.
During the Great International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883, he presented this catalogue of information regarding the economic importance of these groups, along with another catalogue discussing the scientific investigation of the ocean & freshwater areas. He also participated in the preparation & publication of reports for dredging stations for the United States Fish Commission.
Around this time, he organized the Paris fur seal Tribunal, which involved yearly surveys to the Bering Sea to assess the Fur Seal population, & also served as the representative on the Joint Commission with Great Britain relative to the preservation of fisheries contiguous in the United States & Canada.
In 1896, he left the Commission of Fish in favour of the Smithsonian Institution. He was apparently Assistant Secretary in 1897. Due to his administrative duties, from this point onward, he had little time for original scientific inquiry. In his capacity as secretary, he personally oversaw the National Gallery of Art being built, & assisted in the ingenuity of powered flight by personally responding to an inquiry of the Wright Brothers.
Unfortunately, on July 16th, 1918, Richard Rathbun passed away in his home in Washington D.C. He was married to Lena Augusta Hume at an unknown date, & together they had 1 son, architect Seward Rathbun. His contributions to the field of marine science & palaeontology were immense, & his work will not be forgotten. He is fondly remembered by many, & remains a respected scholar today.
His Achievements, Awards, & Accomplishments
He was one of the reasons for the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers, as he personally reviewed & orchestrated the delivery of pamphlets on aeronautics to their request in 1899. Orville & Wilbur Wright would go on to use their research to achieve the world’s first powered flight in 1903.
He was the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, & personally oversaw the installation of the National Gallery of Art.
He was a fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.
He was awarded an honorary M.S. in 1893 by Indiana University, as well as a doctorate in science in 1894 by Bowdoin College.
He was honoured by having a genus of Ronquil fish, Rathbunella, named after him, for his contributions to science.
He was a member of numerous scientific societies, including the Biological Society of Washington, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Naturalists, the Boston Society of Natural History, the Fisheries Society of Finland, the Russian Imperial Society of the Acclimatization of Animals & Plants, the American Fisheries Society, & the American Association of Museums.
Directories / Credits
No. 1: “Richard Rathbun”, Written by Unknown & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by Prabook.
No. 2: “Richard Rathbun Launched Wright Brothers’ Research”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the Smithsonian Institution.
No. 3: “Richard Rathbun”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the Smithsonian Institution.
No. 4: “Richard Rathbun Papers, 1870-1918 and Undated”, Written by Unknown, & Published at an Unknown Date. Published by the Smithsonian Institution.
No. 5: “Richard Rathbun and His Contributions to Zoology”, Written by Wesley R. Coe, & Published in December 1918. Published by the American Journal of Science.
No. 6: “Richard Rathbun”, Written by Marcus Benjamin, & Published on September 6th, 1918. Published by JSTOR.
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