Background
Conklin was born on November 24, 1863, in Waldo, Ohio, the son of Dr. Abram V. Conklin and Nancy Maria Hull.
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Conklin received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University (1886).
Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Conklin received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins (1891).
Conklin was born on November 24, 1863, in Waldo, Ohio, the son of Dr. Abram V. Conklin and Nancy Maria Hull.
Conklin was educated in the public schools of Waldo and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University (1886) and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins (1891).
From a prosperous and religious family, Conklin seriously considered entering the ministry before ultimately choosing an academic career. From 1885 until 1888 he taught at Rust University in Mississippi, from 1891 to 1894 at Ohio Wesleyan, from 1894 to 1896 at Northwestern University, and from 1896 to 1908 at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1908 he accepted a call from Woodrow Wilson, then president of the university, to become a professor of biology and chairman of the department at Princeton, a position he held until his retirement in 1933.
From his rural background, Conklin developed an early interest in natural history, which was encouraged by one of his teachers at Ohio Wesleyan, Edwin T. Nelson. For his dissertation, Conklin studied the cell lineage of Crepidula, a gasteropod, under the direction of W. K. Brooks. Cell lineage studies were an attempt to follow the fate of daughter cells during embryonic cleavage, from the fertilized egg through later states, such as gastrulation. Conklin felt that homologies, established by comparing early development in various groups of organisms, could provide useful morphological data for understanding evolutionary relationships. This belief was borne out in the summer of 1891 at Woods Hole when Conklin compared his notes on Crepidula with E. B. Wilson’s similar work on the annelid Nereis. Both Wilson and Conklin were surprised to discover the homologous patterns of cleavage in two groups, which up to that time were thought to be only distantly related.
Working several years later with the naturally pigmented egg of Cynthia, a primitive chordate, Conklin followed the distribution of the pigmented particles (originally from one region of the unfertilized egg) in the daughter cells of the developing embryo. The Cynthia studies allowed Conklin to test the then-current hypotheses of mosaic versus regulative development. In addition to his cell lineage studies, he also carried out detailed investigations on mitosis (using Crepidula) and on the embryology of Amphioxus. While most of his investigations were observational, Conklin nonetheless was a strong proponent of experimental biology. Along with T. H. Morgan and Jacques Loeb, Conklin felt that experimental work had been neglected in biology far too long and that, while valuable, observation alone failed to answer many important questions.
Outside of his main area of embryology, Conklin was also interested in evolution and natural selection. He wrote numerous papers on Darwinism, explaining aspects of the theory to lay as well as scientific audiences and defending it against religious and social bigotry. In conjunction with his interest in evolution, he also had an interest in the “nature” versus “nurture” controversy in the study of human development. One of his first books, Heredity, and Environment in the Development of Men (1915) was devoted to an examination of the roles of heredity and environment in shaping the human physical, mental, and moral characteristics.
Beyond questions of strictly scientific concern, Conklin was interested in the relationship between science, philosophy, and society. For many years at Princeton, he taught a seminar in the philosophy of biology, and he lectured frequently on such topics as “Science and the Future of Man” (1930), “Science and Ethics” (1937), and “The Biological Basis of Democracy” (1938).
Conklin was a member of numerous professional and biological organizations, including the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Wistar Institute, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In addition, he was invited to membership in a number of foreign scientific societies, including the Königliche Böhmische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Zoological Society of London, the Académie Royale de Belgique, the Istituto Lombardo (Milan), and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome). He also served on the editorial board of a number of journals, including Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole), Journal of Morphology, Journal of Experimental Zoology, Genetics, and Quarterly Review of Biology.
Although he was associated with a number of scientific institutions, he was particularly devoted to the affairs of three: Princeton University, the American Philosophical Society, and the Marine Biological Laboratory. He served each of these institutions in various administrative and scholarly capacities. Under his guidance biology at Princeton became a highly popular field of study, and the department a smoothly functioning and stimulating place to work. Conklin twice served as president of the American Philosophical Society (1942-1945, 1948-1952), and from 1897 until 1933 he served the Marine Biological Laboratory faithfully as a member of its board of trustees. Along with T. H. Morgan and Ross G. Harrison, he was a founder of the Journal of Experimental Zoology in 1904 and remained a member of its editorial board until his death.
Outside of his scientific and professional work, Conklin held a long-standing interest in the philosophy of biology and in the relations between science and human values. Many of his lectures, papers, and books dealt with the often hazy but important ground between pure science and the application of science to social problems.
American Philosophical Society , United States
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia , United States
Wistar Institute , United States
Marine Biological Laboratory , United States
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute , United States
American Academy of Arts and Sciences , United States
National Academy of Sciences , United States
American Society of Zoologists , United States
1899
Royal Society of Edinburgh , United Kingdom
Zoological Society of London , United Kingdom
Académie Royale de Belgique , Belgium
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei , Italy
Possessed of good health and considerable energy, Conklin was a prodigious investigator and scholar, as well as an indefatigable lecturer, writer, and teacher. Quiet and dignified in manner, he had a warmth and generosity that won the respect not only of his colleagues but also of his students, graduate, and undergraduate alike.
In 1889, while still a graduate student, Conklin married Belle Adkinson, who remained his constant companion until her death in 1940. The couple had two children: Paul and Mary.