Charles Frederick Hartt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Frederick Hartt (23 August 1840 in Fredericton, New Brunswick – 18 March 1878) was an Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who specialized in the geology of Brazil.

In 1860, Hartt started to work as an assistant to Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. In 1865 he accompanied Agassiz to Brazil in the so-called Thayer Expedition, in order to gather evidence for creationism (Agassiz was a radical opposer of Charles Darwin's ideas). There, he fell in love with the new country, spending 15 months exploring it. In 1868 he accepted a post at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York and planned to return to Brazil. In all, Hartt participated in four expeditions to Brazil (the Morgan Expeditions) from 1870 to 1878. He collected a great deal of data about the land and the people, contributing to new knowledge about the flora, the fauna, minerals, geography, linguistics and ethnography. He was an accomplished draftsman and illustrator and musician. In his last voyage he collected more than 500,000 specimens, which were donated to the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, where he worked as the founder and director of the section of geology from 1866 to 1867. In 1870 he wrote an important book, "Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil".

In 1875, following a suggestion by Hartt, the Emperor Dom Pedro II (1825-1891) established the Imperial Geological Commission. The Commission was closed down after two years of work only, after losing the Emperor's support. Hartt was abandoned by his wife and children, who returned to the USA.

He died in Brazil, after contracting yellow fever, at the age of 38.

One of his students, the American geologist Orville Adalbert Derby (1851–1915) succeeded him at the National Museum, after having accompanied him in two of the Morgan Expeditions (1870 and 1871) and having worked with him at the Imperial Commission.

[edit] Bibliography

Sanjad, N. Charles Frederick Hartt and the institutionalization of the natural sciences in Brazil. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, vol.11 no.2, Rio de Janeiro May/Aug. 2004.
Lopes, M. M. C. F. 1994 Hartt's contribution to Brazilian museums of natural history'. Earth Sciences History, 13(2), pp. 174-9.
Freitas, M.V. Hartt: Expedições pelo Brasil Imperial Metalivros, 2002.