Louis John Randolph Agassiz, noted Swiss scientist, was born on May 28, 1873 in Motier, Switzerland, a small village in the Swiss Alps. He developed an appreciation of nature while hiking near his home and decided to study natural sciences. At his parents’ request he pursued a career as a physician and received his M.D. in 1830, but he never lost interest in nature. In 1831 left his medical practice to study in Paris under the direction of Alexander Von Humboldt.

Louis Agassiz returned to Switzerland and became a professor of paleontology, ichthyology, and glaciology. In 1847 he accepted a professorship at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and later founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.

Louis Agassiz’s second wife, Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, accompanied her husband on scientific expeditions to Brazil and Barbados. After her husband’s death she continued his research and became the first president of Radcliffe College.

Louis Agassiz died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 14, 1873.