Charles Henry Fernald | |
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Born |
Mount Desert, Maine |
March 16, 1838
Died | February 22, 1921 Amherst, Massachusetts |
(aged 82)
Fields |
Economic entomology, Lepidopterology Geology, Natural History |
Institutions | University of Maine, University of Massachusetts Amherst |
Alma mater |
Bowdoin College University of Maine Anderson School of Natural History |
Doctoral advisor | Louis Agassiz |
Known for | Work on the eradication of the Gypsy moth, first college-level teacher of economic entomology |
Spouse | Maria Elizabeth Fernald (1862-1919) |
Signature |
Charles Henry Fernald (March 15, 1838 – February 22, 1921) was an American entomologist, geologist, and zoologist, who is credited as the first college professor of economic entomology. Fernald grew up at Fernald Point in Mount Desert, Maine and went on to prepare for college at Maine Wesleyan Seminary before joining the navy in 1862. After receiving a master's degree from Bowdoin College he went on to serve as principal of several academies in Maine. Throughout his career he would document and describe several species of microlepidoptera and in 1886 became the first full-time professor and chair of the natural sciences at what is now the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Fernald Hall and the Fernald Entomological Society at the same institution, are named for him and his son, Henry Torsey Fernald, who would later hold the same position as his father. His wife, Maria Elizabeth Fernald, was a noted entomologist in her own right.