G. Brown Goode
George Brown Goode, 1851 - 1896
George Brown Goode was born in New Albany, Indiana in 1851. His mother died when he was one and a half. His father remarried and the family moved to Amenia, New York. He received his early education at home from private tutors. He then attended Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut where he studied natural science. He then attended Harvard Universityfor a short time.
After Harvard, Goode took charge of the Natural History Museum at Wesleyan University. Goode also started to volunteer for the U.S. Fish Commission. While working for the U.S. Fish Commission he met Spencer Baird who became a great teacher and partner to Goode. Goode and Baird spent many years working in museums together. Following Baird’s death, Goode was put in charge of the museum at the Smithsonian Institution.
Goode was very interested in fish. He went on three scientific expeditions to research fish of the deep sea. This was called oceanic ichthyology and little was known about it at the time. He went on many expeditions with his fellow scientist Talton Bean. Talton was interested in ichthyologic taxonomy. On his first expedition he studied the primitive chimera. On his second expedition he observed and studied flatfish and halibut. They learned about its many aggressive behaviors. His observations helped the fisheries in the United States learn more about the vicious fish. His third expedition included the discovery of gulpers. These were fish that could eat fish twice their size. These fish lived in the deep seas and were very interesting to Goode. This discovery changed modern ichthyologic anatomy.
From his experiences in the field he wrote many books. His first publication was Catalog of the Fishes of the Bermudas. This was a record of the fish he had observed while in Bermuda. He also wrote a giant report called The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States. He used the census information to write these detailed reports on American fish. His most important publication was called Oceanic Ichthyology, which gave detailed information about fish of the high seas. He shows his fine writing skills in his book American Fishes in which he summarized his knowledge of American fish.
Goode was married to Sarah Lamison Ford Judd. They had four children together. Goode continued to work in Museums and on ichthyology until his death from pneumonia in 1896. References:
“George Brown Goode.” National Museum of Natural History [1] 10 Oct. 2001 “George Brown Goode.” Manila Science High School [2] 10 Oct. 2001
—Mark Abbenhaus, 2001
