Background

Raymond Smith Bassler was born on July 22, 1878, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Simon Stein and Allie (Smith) Bassler.

Education

Ray Bassler graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1902 from the University of Cincinnati. Bassler did graduate work at George Washington University, taking the Master of Science in 1903 and Ph.D. in 1905.

Career

After taking his Ph.D. degree in 1905 from the George Washington University, during this time Bassler was employed by the United States National Museum. In his presidential address to the Paleontological Society in 1933, Bassler lamented the passing of an era when training was acquired more in the field than in the classroom.

He was affiliated with George Washington University and the United States National Museum for nearly four decades.

In the 1933 presidential address, Bassler advocated the classical geological practice of retouching photographs of specimens, a position that has led modem paleontologists to characterize his work as “enthusiastic.”

Achievements

• A world authority on Silurian and Ordovician Bryozoa, Bassler assembled an outstanding collection of these fossils, now at the Smithsonian Institution. He also published valuable bibliographic indexes relating to them: “Bibliographical Index of American Ordovician and Silurian Fossils” (1915), “Early Bryozoa of the Baltic Provinces” (1911), and “Synopsis of American Fossil Bryozoa” (1900).
  
  His study of other phyla resulted in the compilation of the Bibliographic Index of Paleozoic Ostracoda (1934) and Bibliographic and Faunal Index of Paleozoic Echinoderms (1943), as well as shorter papers on tetra corals, Cystoidea, and conodonts.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Faunal Lists and Descriptions of Paleozoic Corals

    (The purpose of this publication is to present (1) faunal ...)

    1950
  • Stratigraphy of the Central Basin of Tennessee 1932
  • Cambrian and Ordovician 1919
  • Cambrian and Ordovician 1915
  • Dendroid graptolites of the Niagaran dolomites at Hamilton, Ontario 1909
  • A Synops of American Fossil Bryozoa 1900
  • Bulletin - United States National Museum
  • Bibliographic Index of American Ordovician and Silurian Fossils 1934
  • The late Niagaran strata of west Tennessee 1908
  • The Waverlyan period of Tennessee 1911
  • Shelled Invertebrates of the Past and Present, with Chapters on Geological History. Smithsonian Scientific Series 1931
  • Mineral resources of Virginia 1907
  • North American early Tertiary Bryozoa 1920
  • Smithsonian Scientific Series 1934
  • The Ryozoan Fauna of the Rochester Shale 1911
  • The Permian bryozoa of Timor 1929

• publication

  • The bryozoan fauna of the Rochester shale 1906
  • Corynotrypa: A new genus of tubuliporoid Bryozoa 1911
  • Studies on the cyclostomatous Bryozoa 1922
  • Synopsis of American Early Tertiary Cheilostome Bryozoa 1917

Views

As a youth, Bassler had himself spent many hours collecting marine fossils in the dusty Ordovician outcrops near his Cincinnati home and had worked after high school every day as technical assistant to E. O. Ulrich. Bassler’s close association with Ulrich lasted well beyond his high-school days. When the elder scientist moved to Washington, the younger withdrew from the University of Cincinnati and followed him. Ulrich’s influence colored his entire career. He adopted Ulrich’s methods and approaches to problems, his interest in paleontology, and his passion for collections and catalogs.

Membership

Bassler was a member of the Geological Society of America, Paleontological Society of America, Geological Society of America, Washington Academy of Science, Geological Society of Washington, Geological Society of London, Academy of Sciences (Philadelphia). He also held a membership in the Sigma Xi, Sigma Gamma Epsilon, Society Natural History of Tartu, Cosmos Club (Washington).

Connections

Raymond Bassler was married twice. His first wife's name was Clara M. Bloom, whom he married on November 24, 1902. He was married a second time to Alida Baker on September 5, 1939.

Father:

Simon Stein Bassler

Mother:

Allie (Smith) Bassler

influencer:

Edward Oscar Ulrich

Edward Oscar Ulrich (1 February 1857, in Covington, Kentucky – 22 February 1944, in Washington, D.C.) was an invertebrate paleontologist specializing in the study of Paleozoic fossils. Bassler’s close association with Ulrich lasted well beyond his high-school days.

Wife:

Alida Baker

late spouse:

Clara M. Bloom

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  1970