John Henry Comstock
Encyclopedia
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
and arachnology
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 a leading educator. His work provided the basis for classification of butterflies, moths, and scale insects.
Early life and education
Comstock was born on February 24, 1849 in Janesville, WisconsinJanesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
. He 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...
, graduating in 1874. He also studied at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. In 1878 he married Anna Botsford
Anna Botsford Comstock
Anna Botsford Comstock , was a US artist, educator, conservationist, and a leader of the nature study movement, born in Otto, New York, to Marvin and Phebe Irish Botsford....
. She was a wood engraver who beautifully illustrated many of his articles. Comstock became a professor of Nature Studies at Cornell.
Career
Comstock worked as an instructor at Cornell until 1879. He worked at Vassar CollegeVassar 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,...
from 1877 to 1879. Between 1879 and 1881 he became the chief Entomologist of the USDA
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
in Washington, D.C. In 1882 he became professor of Entomology and Invertebrate Zoology at Cornell. He also did work in insect morphology and is best known as the co-proposer of the Comstock-Needham system with James George Needham
James George Needham
James George Needham was an American entomologistAfter studying with John Henry Comstock at Cornell University he taught biology at Lake Forest University .In 1908 returned to Cornell as assistant professor of limnology.When Comstock retired in 1914, Needham became head of the Department of...
.
Comstock, through his own work and that of his students, had a significant influence in the development of entomology departments throughout the United States.
He suffered a stroke on August 5, 1926, and continued to live as an invalid until his death on March 20, 1931.
The John Henry Comstock Award
The Entomological Society of AmericaEntomological Society of America
The Entomological Society of America was founded in 1889 and today has more than 6,000 members, including educators, extension personnel, consultants, students, researchers, and scientists from agricultural departments, health agencies, private industries, colleges and universities, and state and...
gives out an award in each of its five branches to the outstanding graduate student of the year. This award is the John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Award.
Publications
Comstock published many articles including:- A Manual for the study of insects (1930) illustrated by Anna Botsford ComstockAnna Botsford ComstockAnna Botsford Comstock , was a US artist, educator, conservationist, and a leader of the nature study movement, born in Otto, New York, to Marvin and Phebe Irish Botsford....
. - The Spider book: a manual for the study of the spiders and near relatives (1912).
- Notes on Entomology (Ithaca, 1875).
- Annual Reports of Entomologist (Washington, 1879–1881).
- Report on Cotton Insects (1879).
- Second Annual Report of the Department of Entomology of Cornell University, including a monograph on Diaspinae (Ithaca, 1883).
- an article on HymenopteraHymenopteraHymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
in the "Standard Natural History" (Boston, 1884).
- "Anna Botsford Comstock," "John Henry Comstock," "Harrison Gray Dyar," "Mary Jane Rathbun," and "Robert Edwards Carter Stearns." In: American National Biography. New York: (Oxford University Press, 1999).
External links
- The John Henry Comstock Graduate Student Award
- List of winners of the Comstock Award
- The correspondence of John Henry and Anna Botsford Comstock in the Cornell Library
- Correspondence with Charles Darwin
- Letter to Darwin
- Cover of "A Manual ..." with an engraving by Anna Botsford Comstock
- Article mentioning John and Anna as early married professors
- Introduction to Entomology (1908)