George and Elizabeth Peckham
Encyclopedia
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s, taxonomists
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, ethologists
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
, arachnologists
Arachnology
Arachnology is the scientific study of spiders and related animals such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, collectively called arachnids. However, the study of ticks and mites is sometimes not included in arachnology, but is called Acarology...
, and entomologists
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
, specializing in animal behavior and in the study of jumping spider
Jumping spider
The jumping spider family contains more than 500 described genera and about 5,000 described species, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species. Jumping spiders have some of the best vision among invertebrates and use it in courtship, hunting and navigation...
s (family Salticidae) and wasps.
Lives and careers
George Peckham was born in Albany, New YorkAlbany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. At age 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, reaching the rank of first lieutenant. After the war, he resumed his studies and earned his M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
in 1872. Rather than practice medicine, however, he chose to teach biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at East Division High School
Riverside University High School
Riverside University High School is a public high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a college preparatory curriculum. It is a part of the Milwaukee Public Schools system.- Pre-1912 :...
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. In 1880 he organized the first American biological laboratory program in any high school. He married his colleague, Elizabeth Maria Gifford, one of the first science graduates from Vassar
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
. In 1888, Peckham became principal of East Division, and in 1891, an inspector for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
State education agency
A state education agency , or state department of education, is a formal governmental label for the state-level government agencies within each U.S...
. In 1897, he became the director of the Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Public Library is the public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin consisting of a central library and 12 branches, all part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System...
, in which position he served until retirement in 1910. He died on January 10, 1914, at the age of 68.
Elizabeth Maria Gifford (later Peckham) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
in 1854. She graduated from Vassar College in 1876. She was active in the women's suffrage movement both at the state and national level and testified before legislative committees on several occasions. She served as one of the first librarians in the city of Milwaukee. Elizabeth Peckham died of pneumonia on February 11, 1940, at the age of 85.
Natural science studies
Together, they introduced Darwinian concepts into secondary educationSecondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
and began their studies on the taxonomy and behavior of jumping spiders (Salticidae), a large group of visually oriented spiders. They were among the earliest taxonomists to emphasize the value of behavior in classification. In 1889-1890 they published Observations on Sexual Selection in Spiders of the Family Attidae, and Additional Observations on Sexual Selection in Spiders of the Family Attidæ, with Some Remarks on Mr. Wallace's Theory of Sexual Ornamentation, among the first studies on sexual selection
Sexual selection
Sexual selection, a concept introduced by Charles Darwin in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, is a significant element of his theory of natural selection...
, supporting Darwin's
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
concept against Wallace's
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
alternative explanation of courtship behavior. In 1898 they produced On the Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps, a work considered a scientific classic for its style as well as its scholarship. Unlike the later work of Fabre
Jean Henri Fabre
Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre was a French entomologist and author.-Life:Fabre was born in Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France....
, which praised the supposed "perfection" of insect behavior, the Peckhams identified series of behaviors which were subject to natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
.
The Peckhams were lifetime collaborators, as researchers and educators. From 1883 to 1909 they described 63 genera and 366 species. The North American Peckham Society is named after them. It is dedicated to salticid research; its irregular publication is titled Peckhamia.
Taxa named after the Peckhams
The salticid genus PeckhamiaPeckhamia
Peckhamia is a spider genus of the Salticidae family .-Name:The genus is named in honor of George and Elizabeth Peckham, who identified many salticids at the time.-Species:...
is named in their honor, along with at least 20 species and one subspecies:
- Cicurina peckhami (SimonEugène SimonEugène Simon was a French arachnologist. His many taxonomic contributions include categorizing and naming many spiders, as well as creating genera such as Anelosimus, Psellocoptus and Phlogius....
, 1898) - Acragas peckhami (ChickeringArthur M. ChickeringArthur Merton Chickering was a U.S. arachnologist. He was born on March 23, 1887 in North Danville, Vermont and died on May 24, 1974.He studied in Yale University under Alexander Petrunkevitch until 1913. In 1916 he earned a master of science degree in cytology and in 1927 a Ph.D. for cytological...
, 1946) - Bellota peckhami Galiano, 1978
- Chapoda peckhami BanksNathan BanksNathan Banks was an American entomologist noted for his work on neuroptera, megaloptera, hymenoptera, and acarina . He started work on mites in 1880 with the USDA...
, 1929 - Compsodecta peckhami Bryant, 1943
- Corythalia peckhami PetrunkevitchAlexander PetrunkevitchAlexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch was an eminent arachnologist of his time. From 1910 to 1939 he described over 130 spider species.-Biography:...
, 1914 - Goleta peckhami Simon, 1900
- Habrocestum peckhami Rainbow, 1899
- Habronattus peckhami (Banks, 1921)
- Hasarius peckhami Petrunkevitch, 1914
- Heliophanus peckhami Simon, 1902
- Hyllus brevitarsis peckhamorum BerlandLucien BerlandLucien Berland was a French entomologist and an arachnologist- Partial list of publications :* 1925 : Faune de France...
& Millot, 1941 - Myrmarachne peckhami RoewerCarl Friedrich RoewerCarl Friedrich Roewer was a German arachnologist. He concentrated on harvestmen, where he described almost a third of today's known species, but also almost 700 taxa of spiders and numerous Solifugae....
, 1951 - Pachomius peckhamorum Galiano, 1994
- Pelegrina peckhamorum (Kaston, 1973)
- Pensacola peckhami Bryant, 1943
- Salticus peckhamae (Cockerell, 1897)
- Telamonia peckhami Thorell, 1891
- Thiodina peckhami (Bryant, 1940)
- Uroballus peckhamiUroballus peckhamiUroballus peckhami is a spider species of the Salticidae family that is known only from Vietnam.This species is known only from a single female.-Description:...
Zabka, 1985 - Viciria peckhamorum Lessert, 1927