William D. Peck

William Dandridge Peck (May 8, 1763 Boston – October 8, 1822 Cambridge, MA) was a botanist, and America ’s first native entomologist. He graduated Harvard College in 1782 and eventually became Harvard's Massachusetts Professor of Natural History. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1793. Dandridge was also a founding member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1812, and served as the society's first vice-president from 1812-1816.His pioneering entomological article was "The Description and History of the Canker Worm", describing the species as Phalaena vernata, the spring cankerworm.

He had a son, also named William Dandridge Peck (1812–1876), who was a physician and state legislator.

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