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The Return of the Phoenix: The 1963 International Congress of Zoology and American Zoologists in the Twentieth Century

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Abstract

This paper examines the International Congress of Zoology held in Washington D.C. in 1963 as a portrait of American zoologists’ search for effective and rewarding relationships with both each other and the public. Organizers of the congress envisioned the congress as a last ditch effort to unify the disparate subdisciplines of zoology, overcome the barriers of specialization, and ward off the heady claims of more reductionist biologists. The problems zoologists faced as they worked to fulfill these ambitious goals illuminate some of the challenges faced by members of the naturalist tradition as they worked to establish disciplinary unity while seeking public support in the competitive world of twentieth century science.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their extremely help- ful comments. Erik Ellis, Paul Farber, Anthony Gill, Marie Glitz, Manfred Laublicher, Jane Maienschein, Mary Jo Nye, Robert Nye, Kathleen Pigg, and the members of Arizona State University’s Human Dimensions of Biology Lab provided helpful comments on either the manuscript or presentations. I greatly appreciate the archival assistance of the Rockefeller Archives, John Innes Institute, Harvard University Archives, and Janice Goldblum of the National Academy of Science. This research was supported in part by National Science Foundation Award #0324033.

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    Kristin Johnson

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Johnson, K. The Return of the Phoenix: The 1963 International Congress of Zoology and American Zoologists in the Twentieth Century. J Hist Biol 42, 417–456 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-008-9160-1

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