America's leading botanist in the mid-19th century. Darwin's strongest early supporter in the U.S., in 1857 he became only the third scientist to be told of his theory (after Hooker and Lyell). He debated L. Agassiz between 1859 and 1861 on variation and geographic distribution. His discovery of close affinities between East Asian and North American floras was a key piece of evidence in favor of evolution. Not fully comfortable with selection, he argued that evolution was compatible with religious belief and slid towards theistic evolutionism. Author of numerous botanical textbooks. A poor fund raiser, he still succeeded in establishing what became the Gray Herbarium. President of AAAS in the 1860's. With Engelmann dead, Gray selected William Trelease as first director of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Collaborated with his mentor J. Torrey on the Flora of North America.
| Born November 18, 1810 |
|
| M.D., Fairfield College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western District of New York, 1831 | |
| Medical practice, Bridgewater, N.Y. | |
| Teacher, Bartlett's High School, Utica, N.Y., 1832-1835 | |
| Curator, New York Lyceum of Natural History, 1835-1838(?) | |
| Botanist, Wilkes Expedition, 1836-1838 (resigned shortly before expedition departed) | |
| Professor of botany, University of Michigan (appointed but never taught), 1838-1842 | |
| Professor of natural history, Harvard University, 1842-1888 (retired from teaching 1873) |
[From http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~alroy/lefa/Gray.html]
Names at University Commons
In 1837, the University of Michigan was moved to Ann Arbor from Detroit, and a new Board of Regents was appointed. The first order of business was selection of a campus, since two sites had been offered. The Regents chose the flat tract lying east of State Street rather than the hills to the north overlooking the Huron River. By 1838, they were ready to hire an architect for their first building, and they made their first appointment of a professor, Dr. Asa Gray, a young physician from New York. Because he was heading off to Europe, they gave him $5000 to spend on books for the University library (he returned with well over 3,000 books). The second professor, Dr. Douglass Houghton, was appointed in 1839. William Woodbridge was the governor involved in providing state money for the university. The Reverend George Palmer Williams and the Reverend Joseph Whiting were named 3rd and 4th members of the UM faculty in 1841. In 1842, Asa Gray asked the University to release him because he had the opportunity of going to Harvard, and Michigan lost a botanist who was to gain national fame.
[Adapted from The Making of The University of Michigan 1817-1992
by Howard H. Peckham, edited and updated by Margaret and Nicholas Steneck]
If Thomas Huxley earned the title of "Darwin's bulldog," then Asa Gray should be remembered as "Darwin's dove." Whereas Huxley enjoyed a good fight in his defense of Darwin's theory, Gray sought to mediate and bring sides together around a common understanding of "good science." As Darwin's strongest and most vocal scientific ally in the United States , Gray recognized the scientific importance of Darwin's efforts for the growing professionalism of biological researchers. But as an orthodox Christian, a Presbyterian firmly devoted to the faith expressed in the Nicene Creed, he saw in Darwin's theory both evidence for his philosophical commitment to natural theology and support for his opposition to the idealism advocated by Louis Agassiz and the naturphilosophers in both Europe and America . Indeed, Agassiz's advocacy of Platonic forms as a basis of biological understanding (e.g., "A species is a thought of the creator") would be a major source of American opposition to Darwin 's theory.
[From Charles Darwin and Asa Gray Discuss Teleology and Design, Sara Joan Miles, 2001]
Asa Gray could be described as the person who established systematic botany at Harvard and, to some extent, in the U.S. Gray's ties with European botanists, developed through correspondence, exchange of specimens and visits to Europe, combined with his network of collectors in North America allowed him to serve as a sort of central clearing house for the identification of plants from newly explored areas of North America. In this process, Gray was able to build a major herbarium, which became the nucleus of the current Gray Herbarium at Harvard. Gray also influenced American botany by writing a number of botanical textbooks, including very elementary ones for children. Gray's Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States became the standard field guide. Gray also served generally as a link between American and European botanical sciences. Gray reviewed new European scientific works regularly in the American Journal of Science and Arts, and he was largely responsible for introducing Darwin 's theory of natural selection in the United States .
A chronology of Gray's life follows:
[From http://www.huh.harvard.edu/libraries/asa/ASABIO.html]