On the Wing #46: (BRO Round 2) Wilson vs. Bonaparte
The next round of the Babe Ruth of Ornithology begins now! As the updated brackets show below, Alexander Wilson faces off against Charles Lucien Bonaparte this week followed by Peter Scott vs. Lulow Griscom, Margaret Morse Nice vs. Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey, and Konrad Lorenz vs. Charles Darwin. As I explained last week, the goal of the second round is to determine whose argument involving birds was more persuasive and had a larger impact upon the bird world.
So without further adieu, let the games commence!
Perhaps the most well known aspect of both Wilson's and Bonaparte's careers was the compilation, editing, and final publication of one of the early crowning achievements of American ornithology. The work known as "American Ornithology" started as the brainchild of Alexander Wilson who was inspired by other naturalists at the time to create a reference guide for the bird species to be found in the relatively new and unexplored world that was North America. With such a vision for what lay ahead and what was needed for the future of ornithology in America, it was a no brainer to understand Wilson's popularity at the time. He was considered the foremost ornithological expert of his time and was very much respected by his peers.
However others, like Audubon, made the mistake of crossing Wilson and trying to usurp his position. Whether deliberately or not, Audubon tried to make inroads with Wilson and ended up with the short end of the stick when he spoke before a scientific convention of Wilson's peers in Philadelphia. Audubon instead of being gracious at receiving the honor to speak at such an establishment, instead lambasted Wilson's work and called into question some of its artistic and scientific integrity. Unbeknownst to Audubon, a hornet's nest had been roused and soon he wasn't able to show his own paintings to the scientific community or practically anywhere in the East of the U.S. While Audubon is widely regarded as being the darling of the early efforts towards documenting the bird species of North America and while he was quite successful at it, he like many early artists often plagiarized a design from an earlier manual or book and then claimed it as their own.
As one can see above, while Audubon undoubtedly improved upon and became well known for representing the life like qualities of the birds he painted, the posture of the birds are similar. But enough about Audubon! After all, he did lose int the first round to Peter Scott. Getting back to the book, Wilson was unable to finish it due to a battle with tuberculosis and died before the final volumes were compiled and published. This is where Bonaparte comes in and far from riding Wilson's coattails, he actually discovered a good number of new species and described them in "American Ornithology" as well. Collaboration and compilation are some of the best building blocks in science and by finishing off the book, Bonaparte helped to contribute greatly to American scientific history by providing his peers with a reference guide to the known bird species of North America. Despite this achievement, it cannot be underestimated how important Wilson's original idea and brain child were and as such without him, the idea of a book to describe the unique and vibrant variety of species found in North America may never have come to fruition. And who knows, maybe Audubon would have been the man of the hour and not Wilson.
From this assessment alone, I think it would be safe for me to assume that based on Wilson's contributions to ornithology had a much greater impact than Bonaparte ever could. Certainly it can be argued that without Bonaparte, the task might never have been finished, but without a beginning, such an undertaking might not have even crossed Bonaparte's radar. Besides, when the only thing you're remembered for is an uncommon (albeit delicately patterned) wintering gull species, while the latter has upwards of seven species, plus a genus and a scientific society and publication named after him, you tend to pay more attention to that.
Therefore, I do declare, that this round of the Babe Ruth of Ornithology is won by Alexander Wilson! Next week's challengers are going to be a toughie with The dean of the birdwatchers, Ludlow Griscom vs. the founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Sir Peter Scott! See ya'll next week and as always, happy birding ^_^.
Perhaps the most well known aspect of both Wilson's and Bonaparte's careers was the compilation, editing, and final publication of one of the early crowning achievements of American ornithology. The work known as "American Ornithology" started as the brainchild of Alexander Wilson who was inspired by other naturalists at the time to create a reference guide for the bird species to be found in the relatively new and unexplored world that was North America. With such a vision for what lay ahead and what was needed for the future of ornithology in America, it was a no brainer to understand Wilson's popularity at the time. He was considered the foremost ornithological expert of his time and was very much respected by his peers.
However others, like Audubon, made the mistake of crossing Wilson and trying to usurp his position. Whether deliberately or not, Audubon tried to make inroads with Wilson and ended up with the short end of the stick when he spoke before a scientific convention of Wilson's peers in Philadelphia. Audubon instead of being gracious at receiving the honor to speak at such an establishment, instead lambasted Wilson's work and called into question some of its artistic and scientific integrity. Unbeknownst to Audubon, a hornet's nest had been roused and soon he wasn't able to show his own paintings to the scientific community or practically anywhere in the East of the U.S. While Audubon is widely regarded as being the darling of the early efforts towards documenting the bird species of North America and while he was quite successful at it, he like many early artists often plagiarized a design from an earlier manual or book and then claimed it as their own.
From this assessment alone, I think it would be safe for me to assume that based on Wilson's contributions to ornithology had a much greater impact than Bonaparte ever could. Certainly it can be argued that without Bonaparte, the task might never have been finished, but without a beginning, such an undertaking might not have even crossed Bonaparte's radar. Besides, when the only thing you're remembered for is an uncommon (albeit delicately patterned) wintering gull species, while the latter has upwards of seven species, plus a genus and a scientific society and publication named after him, you tend to pay more attention to that.
Therefore, I do declare, that this round of the Babe Ruth of Ornithology is won by Alexander Wilson! Next week's challengers are going to be a toughie with The dean of the birdwatchers, Ludlow Griscom vs. the founder of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Sir Peter Scott! See ya'll next week and as always, happy birding ^_^.
Comments
Post a Comment