Editing Augustus Addison Gould

{{Short description|American conchologist (1805–1866)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Augustus Addison Gould
| image             = Gould Augustus Addison 1805-1886.png
| honorific_suffix  = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1805|04|23}}
| birth_place       = [[New Ipswich, New Hampshire|New Ipswich]], New Hampshire
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1866|09|15|1805|04|23}}
| death_place       = [[Boston]], Massachusetts
| resting_place     = [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]]
| fields            = [[conchology]]
| workplaces        =
| alma_mater        = [[Harvard College]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = Conchology, ''Mollusca and Shells'', ''Report on the Invertebrata''
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = '''A. A. Gould'''
| awards            = 
| signature         = Signature of Augustus Addison Gould (1805–1866).png 
}}
[[File:Augustus Addison Gould.jpg|thumb]]

'''Augustus Addison Gould''' (April 23, 1805 – September 15, 1866) was an American naturalist and the foremost [[conchologist]] of his era. He described over 1,100 new species of mollusks, including all known mollusks of Massachusetts and the shells collected by two major government exploring expeditions. He was one of the first naturalists in America to recognize the importance of geographic distribution in the description of species.{{sfn |Sterling |1997}}

==Biography==
Born in [[New Ipswich, New Hampshire]], he was the son of music teacher Nathaniel Duren Gould (1781–1864) who was also noted for his penmanship.<ref name="EB1911">{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911}}</ref><ref name="Wyman 1903">{{Cite book |last=Wyman |first=Jeffries |date=1903-04-22 |url=https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/gould-augustus.pdf |title=Biographical memoir of Augustus Addison Gould 1805–1866 |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |pages=91–113 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |access-date=March 5, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514053007/https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/gould-augustus.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Physician===
He graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1825, and took his degree of doctor of medicine in 1830. "Establishing himself in [[Boston]], he devoted himself to the practice of medicine, and finally rose to high professional rank and social position. He became president of the [[Massachusetts Medical Society]], and was employed in editing the [[vital statistics (government records)|vital statistics]] of the state."<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1849, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=gould;smode=advanced;f1-date=1849 |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> In 1855 he delivered the annual address at the [[Massachusetts Medical Society]], entitled "Search Out the Secrets of Nature." He was its president from 1864 until his death. In 1856, he was appointed visiting physician to the [[Massachusetts General Hospital]].

===Naturalist===
"As a [[Conchology|conchologist]] his reputation was worldwide, and he was one of the pioneers of the science in America. His writings fill many pages of the publications of the ''[[Boston Society of Natural History]]'' (see vol. xi. p. 197 for a list) and other periodicals. He published with [[Louis Agassiz]] the ''Principles of Zoology'' (2nd ed. 1851)."<ref name="EB1911"/>  He taught [[botany]] and [[zoology]] at Harvard for two years. When [[Charles Lyell]] visited the United States in order to pursue his [[Geology|geological]] investigations, he immediately sought the aid of Gould as a co-worker.

"Gould edited ''The terrestrial air-breathing mollusks of the United States, and the adjacent territories of North America''&nbsp;– ''[https://archive.org/details/terrestrialairbr185101binn Volume 1]'' (1851–1855) of [[Amos Binney]] (1803–1847). He translated [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck|Lamarck]]'s ''Genera of Shells'' (1833)."<ref name="EB1911"/>

"The two most important monuments to his scientific work, however, are ''Mollusca and Shells'' (vol. xii, 1852) of the [[United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842]] under [[Charles Wilkes|Lieutenant Charles Wilkes]], published by the government, and the ''Report on the Invertebrata'' published by order of the legislature of [[Massachusetts]] in 1841. A second edition of the latter work was authorized in 1865, and published in 1870 after the author's death.
In 1860, Gould also reported on shells collected by the [[North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition]]."<ref name="EB1911"/>

"Gould was a corresponding member of all the prominent American scientific societies, and of many of those of Europe, including the London [[Royal Society]]."<ref name="EB1911"/>

He died in Boston on September 15, 1866, and was buried at [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]].<ref name="Wyman 1903"/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last = Sterling| editor-first = Keir B.| encyclopedia = Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists| title = Gould, Augustus Addison| year = 1997| publisher = Greenwood Press}}
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Gould, Nathaniel Duren|year=1900}}

;Attribution
*{{EB1911 |wstitle=Gould, Augustus Addison |volume=12 |page=284}}

==External links==
* [http://www.botanicus.org/bibliography/b13542230 ''Mollusca and Shells''] by A. A. Gould 1852–1856 at Botanicus.
* [https://archive.org/details/bulletinunitedst2391964unit  Johnson R.I. (1964) - The recent Mollusca of Augustus Addison Gould; Bulletin - United States National Museum vol. 239, 1964]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Augustus Addison}}
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1866 deaths]]
[[Category:People from New Ipswich, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:American malacologists]]
[[Category:Conchologists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Boston]]
[[Category:19th-century American naturalists]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]