Asa Gray (1810-1888, APS, 1848), Physician, botanist, Harvard professor and an early proponent of the Darwinian theory of Evolution in the United States, was the first American to earn a living as a professional botanist. He made important, lasting contributions to the field of botany, to botanical education, and to the institutionalization of American science.

The son of an Oneida county farmer and tanner in central New York, Asa Gray attended the Fairfield Academy and the Fairfield Medical College, graduating in 1831. After briefly practicing medicine in western New York, he abandoned the profession to pursue research in botany. In 1834 he moved to New York City to study, work and (sometimes) live with John Torrey, then the country’s leading botanist. During an 8-year apprenticeship in which Torrey shared his knowledge and contacts with the young student, their relationship gradually changed from one of student and teacher to that of colleagues who collaborated on many projects. Their most important collaboration was the ground-breaking Flora of North America (1838-1843). From 1836 to 1838 Gray was selected to be the botanist for the U.S. Exploring Expedition, also known as the Wilkes Expedition. Numerous and extended delays caused Gray to resign before the expedition departed in August, 1838. In 1842 he accepted a position as the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University, and kept it until his death in 1888.

Along with his mentor and co-author John Torrey, Gray introduced a new system of classification already in use in Europe based upon biological similarities, often abandoning the artificial sorting markers of the Linnaean system in favor of natural “type specifications” for the classification of North American flora. This change in biological classification, championed by Torrey and Gray, was critical for bringing the United States into the world scientific community. Gray’s Manual for the Botany of the Northern United States (1848), constituted a natural flora in one volume that was notable for its ease of use, as well as for high standards of accuracy, inclusiveness, and scientific rigor.

Although a Harvard professor for more than 45 years, Gray had less influence as a botanical pedagogue than he did as the author of botany texts. Few of his students became professional botanists; however, his textbooks, especially How Plants Grow and the Manual, greatly increased the popularity of the subject among the lay public. Gray’s many textbooks, from elementary school through the college level introduced thousands of Americans to botany, making it the science of choice in many schools for much of the 19th century. Gray also trained scores of amateur botanists and collectors, raising the standards for how specimens were gathered, labeled, preserved and documented. His corresponded widely with amateurs and paid collectors, who gladly sent him specimens and observations in return for his help with identifications. Gray’s work benefited from his extensive correspondence with collectors throughout North America by greatly expanding the data from which he drew conclusions. The new information and new observations informed his synthetic works such as the Manual, which went through numerous editions. Also, by carefully instructing collectors about what specimens to gather, how to preserve them, and how to label them, Gray insured the quality of his data while modeling a more professional style of botanical work

Doubtless, Gray’s greatest contribution to American Science was his early promotion of Darwinian theory. He had a long standing relationship with Charles Darwin based upon an extended correspondence. Gray was fascinated by Darwin’s thinking and supported him personally and professionally at critical points in his career. Darwin valued Gray’s insights and support, since the American botanist realized even before the publication of the Origin of Species that the issues were both scientific and theological. When a question arose about whether Darwin or Alfred Russell Wallace had originated the notion of natural selection, Darwin’s letters to Gray proved Darwin’s primacy. Gray actively defended Darwin’s ideas in print, endeavoring to insure a fair reception of his work based upon its scientific merit. Gray’s 1860 review of the Origin of Species in the American Journal of Science (2nd series, 29: 153-84), his debates with Louis Agassiz, and his popular essays in the Atlantic Monthly paved the way for broad acceptance of Darwinian evolution in the United States. Gray’s role as an American defender of Darwin’s ideas has been compared to that of Thomas Huxley in Great Britain. But, while Huxley viewed Darwinism as a victory of science over religion, Gray argued for the compatibility of natural selection and Protestant theology. He used natural theology, especially the “argument from design” to affirm that natural selection offers more proof of God’s work in nature. Although Darwin himself eventually arrived at agnostic conclusions, he profoundly appreciated Gray’s work on behalf of his theory, saying that “No one person understands my views and has defended them so well as A. Gray, though he does not by any means go all the way with me. (Letter to James D. Dana , 30 July 1860).

A shy individual, Asa Gray usually worked quietly and steered clear of politics. He received honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh and became a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1848. Despite his significance as a botanist and an educator, Gray was little known among historians prior to the publication of A. Hunter Dupree’s major biography Asa Gray: American Botanist, Friend of Darwin. Gray was married to Jane Lathrop Loring, whose social connections brought him into Boston society. The couple were childless. Gray was respected by his peers and fondly remembered as “our greatest botanist” and a “trump of all senses”.

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