Swiss naturalist and geologist Born 1807 Died 1873 Jean Louis
Rodolphe Agassiz was the son of the Protestant pastor of the
parish of Motier, on the north-eastern shore of the Lake of
Morat (Murten See), and not far from the eastern extremity of
the Lake of Neuchatel. Agassiz was born at this retired place on
the 28th of May 1807. Educated first at home, then spending four
years at the gymnasium of Bienne, he completed his elementary
studies at the academy of Lausanne. Having adopted medicine as
his profession, he studied successively at the universities of
Zurich, Heidelberg and Munich; and he availed himself of the
advantages afforded by these universities for extending his
knowledge of natural history, especially of botany. After
completing his academical course, he took in 1829 his degree of
doctor of philosophy at Erlangen, and in 1830 that of doctor of
medicine at Munich. Up to this time he had paid no special
attention to the study of ichthyology, which soon afterwards
became the great occupation of his