David Starr Jordan
Overview
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York, and studied at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
, and the Indiana University School of Medicine. While at Cornell University, Jordan joined the Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...
fraternity.
In 1885, he was named President of Indiana University, becoming the nation's youngest university president at age 34 and the first Indiana University president that was not an ordained minister.
Unanswered Questions
Encyclopedia
David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was a leading eugenicist
, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist
. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University
.
, Butler University
, and the Indiana University School of Medicine. While at Cornell University, Jordan joined the Delta Upsilon
fraternity.
Jordan served as a Director of the Sierra Club
from 1892 to 1903.
Although well regarded as an ichthyologist, Jordan was best known for being a peace activist. He argued that war was detrimental to the human species because it removed the strongest organisms from the gene pool. Jordan was president of the World Peace Foundation from 1910 to 1914 and president of the World Peace Conference in 1915, and opposed U.S. involvement in World War I
.
In 1925, Jordan was an expert witness for the defense in the Scopes Trial
. That same year, he was a listed member in the Bohemian Club
and the University Club in San Francisco.
He served as a member of the initial board of trustees of the Human Betterment Foundation
, a eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California
in 1928 in order to compile and distribute information about compulsory sterilization
legislation in the United States
, for the purposes of eugenics
.
and was considered a rising star in the world of paleontology
when he was involved in a traffic accident near Gilroy, California
, suffering fatal injuries and dying at the age of 22. His death was a severe blow to his father.
Jordan's files are housed at Swarthmore College
.
Starks, 1895, Davidijordania Popov, 1931, and Jordanella Goode
& Bean
, 1879 are named after him.
Species named after him include:
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
Early life and education
Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York, and studied at Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
, and the Indiana University School of Medicine. While at Cornell University, Jordan joined the Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...
fraternity.
Career
In 1885, he was named President of Indiana University, becoming the nation's youngest university president at age 34 and the first Indiana University president that was not an ordained minister. In 1891, he became president of Stanford University, serving there as president until 1913 and chancellor until his retirement in 1916.Jordan served as a Director of the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
from 1892 to 1903.
Although well regarded as an ichthyologist, Jordan was best known for being a peace activist. He argued that war was detrimental to the human species because it removed the strongest organisms from the gene pool. Jordan was president of the World Peace Foundation from 1910 to 1914 and president of the World Peace Conference in 1915, and opposed U.S. involvement in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
In 1925, Jordan was an expert witness for the defense in the Scopes Trial
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial—formally known as The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes and informally known as the Scopes Monkey Trial—was a landmark American legal case in 1925 in which high school science teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act which made it unlawful to...
. That same year, he was a listed member in the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
and the University Club in San Francisco.
He served as a member of the initial board of trustees of the Human Betterment Foundation
Human Betterment Foundation
The Human Betterment Foundation was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E.S. Gosney with the aim "to foster and aid constructive and educational forces for the protection and betterment of the human family in body, mind, character, and citizenship"...
, a eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
in 1928 in order to compile and distribute information about compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization
Compulsory sterilization also known as forced sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization...
legislation in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, for the purposes of eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
.
Legacy
His son, Eric Knight Jordan (1903–1926) followed his father's footsteps into the sciences. He had taken part in a successful paleontological expedition to the Revillagigedo IslandsRevillagigedo Islands
The Revillagigedo Islands or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem...
and was considered a rising star in the world of paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
when he was involved in a traffic accident near Gilroy, California
Gilroy, California
Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...
, suffering fatal injuries and dying at the age of 22. His death was a severe blow to his father.
Jordan's files are housed at Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
.
Monuments and memorials
- NOAA research vesselResearch vesselA research vessel is a ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel...
David Starr Jordan - David Starr Jordan High School in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
- David Starr Jordan High SchoolJordan High School (Long Beach, California)David Starr Jordan High School is a public high school in Long Beach, California. It is part of the Long Beach Unified School District-Overview:...
in Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257... - David Starr Jordan Middle School in Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
- Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
- "Jordan River", a stream flowing through the Indiana University campus
- Legionella jordanis, a bacterium isolated from the "Jordan River"
- Jordan Avenue in BloomingtonBloomington, IndianaBloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
- Jordan Hall, home of the Indiana University Department of Biology located in Bloomington Indiana.
- Jordan Hall, home of the Psychology Department at Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Notable works
- Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States (1876)
- Science sketches (1887)
- Fishes of North and Middle America (four volumes, 1896–1900)
- Animal Life: A First Book of Zoölogy (1900), with Vernon L. Kellog
- The Philosophy of Despair (1901)
- Food and Game Fishes of North America (1902), with B. W. EvermannBarton Warren EvermannBarton Warren Evermann was an American ichthyologist. He was born in Monroe County, Iowa, and graduated from Indiana University in 1886. For 10 years, he served as teacher and superintendent of schools in Indiana and California. He was professor of biology at the Indiana State University in...
- Guide to the Study of Fishes (1905)
- Life's Enthusiasms (1906)
- The Blood of the NationThe Blood of the NationThe Blood of the Nation: A Study in the Decay of Races by the Survival of the Unfit was the title of a number of publications by the American eugenicist David Starr Jordan one time president of Stanford University . Jordan's thesis under this name first appeared in the May 1901 edition of Popular...
(1901 & 1910, expanded) - California and the Californians (1911)
- War and Waste (1913)
- War's Aftermath (1914), with H. E. Jordan
- Days of a Man (1922) - autobiography
- Ways of Lasting Peace
- Democracy and World Relations
- Imperial Democracy
- Shore Fishes of Hawaii
- The Fish Fauna of the Tortugas Archipelago (with Dr. Joseph Cheesman Thompson) published for the US Bureau of Fisheries
Eponymy
The genera JordaniaJordânia
Jordânia is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Jequitinhonha and to the microregion of Almenara. As of 2007 the population was 10,751 in a total area of 549 km²....
Starks, 1895, Davidijordania Popov, 1931, and Jordanella Goode
George Brown Goode
George Brown Goode , was an ichthyologist, although most of his time was spent as a museum administrator and he was very interested in the history of science, especially the history of the development of science in America. Goode graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University...
& Bean
Tarleton Hoffman Bean
Tarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...
, 1879 are named after him.
Species named after him include:
- Agonomalus jordani Jordan & Starks, 1904.
- Agonomalus jordani Schmidt, 1904.
- Allocareproctus jordani (Burke, 1930).
- Astyanax jordaniAstyanax jordaniAstyanax jordani is a freshwater fishof the characin family oforder Characiformes, native to Mexico.. It is called Cave Tetra , or by its local Spanish name Sardina Ciega.A blind cave fish, A. jordani is recently evolved from the Mexican tetra...
(Hubbs & Innes, 1936). - Caelorinchus jordani Smith & Pope, 1906.
- Caulophryne jordani GoodeGeorge Brown GoodeGeorge Brown Goode , was an ichthyologist, although most of his time was spent as a museum administrator and he was very interested in the history of science, especially the history of the development of science in America. Goode graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University...
& BeanTarleton Hoffman BeanTarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...
, 1896. - Chimaera jordani Tanaka, 1905.
- Charal, Chirostoma jordani Woolman, 1894.
- Jordan's tuskfish, Choerodon jordani (Snyder, 1908).
- Flame wrasse, Cirrhilabrus jordani Snyder, 1904.
- Smooth lumpfish, Cyclopteropsis jordani Soldatov, 1929.
- Diplacanthopoma jordani Garman, 1899.
- Mimic triplefin, Enneanectes jordani (Evermann & Marsh, 1899).
- Petrale solePetrale soleThe Petrale sole, Eopsetta jordani, is an edible flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish that lives on sandy bottoms, usually in deep water, down to depths of about . Males can grow to in length, females to , and they can weigh up to...
, Eopsetta jordani (Lockington, 1879). - Greenbreast darter, Etheostoma jordani Gilbert, 1891.
- Gadella jordani (Böhlke & Mead, 1951).
- Yellow Irish lord, Hemilepidotus jordani BeanTarleton Hoffman BeanTarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...
, 1881. - Brokenline lanternfish, Lampanyctus jordani Gilbert, 1913.
- Jordan's snapper, Lutjanus jordani (Gilbert, 1898).
- Shortjaw eelpout, Lycenchelys jordani (Evermann & Goldsborough, 1907).
- Malthopsis jordani Gilbert, 1905.
- Gulf grouperGulf grouperThe gulf grouper is a species of fish in the Serranidae family. It is endemic to Mexico.-Source:* Roberts, C. 1996. . Downloaded on 4 August 2007....
, Mycteroperca jordani (Jenkins & Evermann, 1889). - Neosalanx jordani Wakiya & Takahashi, 1937.
- Patagonotothen jordani (Thompson, 1916).
- Ptychidio jordani Myers, 1930.
- Northern ronquil, Ronquilus jordani (Gilbert, 1889).
- Shortbelly rockfish, Sebastes jordani (Gilbert, 1896).
- Jordan's damsel, Teixeirichthys jordani (Rutter, 1897).
- Jordan's sculpin, Triglops jordani (Schmidt, 1903).
External links
- David Starr Jordan Papers, 1861-1964(call number SC 058; 250 linear ft.) are housed in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Stanford University Libraries
- History of Stanford motto, with Jordan bio info
- Official NOAA page for the research ship David Starr Jordan
- Biography, David Starr Jordan Prize website
- History And Status of Introduced Fishes In California, 1871 – 1996
- portrait
- The Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford, by W. P. Cutler, reviewed by Susan Wolfe