Spencer Fullerton Baird

Spencer Fullerton Baird (3 February 1823 to 19 August 1887) was an American naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, herpetologist and museum curator, and the first curator named at the Smithsonian Institution. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he trained himself as a naturalist, learning from his brother William and from John James Audubon, attended Dickinson College and taught natural history there from 1845. After a Smithsonian grant in 1848 and a close friendship with its Secretary Joseph Henry, he became its first curator in 1850 and also served for three years as Permanent Secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1850 to 1878 and Secretary from 1878 until 1887, and raised its natural history collections from 6,000 specimens in 1850 to over 2 million by the time of his death. He was also the U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries from 1871 to 1887 and published over 1,000 works during his lifetime.