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Asa Gray

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169-459: Asa Gray ForMemRS (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His Darwiniana was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually exclusive. Gray was adamant that a genetic connection must exist between all members of a species. He was also strongly opposed to the ideas of hybridization within one generation and special creation in

338-458: A 5%   royalty from the publisher, and Darwin was so grateful for Gray's efforts that he offered Gray some of his royalties. Darwin held Gray in high esteem: he dedicated his book Forms of Flowers (1877) to Gray, and he wrote in 1881, "there is hardly any one in the world whose approbation I value more highly than I do yours." Seeing the "unity we perceive in nature" and law in the universe, regarding all species he felt "that they not only had

507-763: A Chair (all of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society ). Members of the 10 Sectional Committees change every three years to mitigate in-group bias . Each Sectional Committee covers different specialist areas including: New Fellows are admitted to the Society at a formal admissions day ceremony held annually in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation which reads: "We who have hereunto subscribed, do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote

676-532: A Creator but have a Governor." Gray and Agassiz strongly disagreed; Agassiz was adamantly opposed to the idea of evolution, whereas Gray was a staunch supporter, believing in theistic evolution . As the debate raged over Darwin's theories, the rift between Gray and Agassiz grew deeper, and they were estranged by December 1863, when Gray was elected president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which also marked Agassiz' increasing isolation within

845-495: A North Carolina herb collector found a specimen but did not know what it was. Eighteen months later the collector sent it to Joseph Whipple Congdon , who contacted Gray, telling Gray that he felt he had found Shortia . Gray was ecstatic to confirm this when he saw the specimen in October 1878. In spring 1879 Gray led an expedition, in which the collector helped, to the spot where S.   galacifolia had been found. Gray never saw

1014-414: A bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white male suffrage , excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution. On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish new slavery and enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By

1183-507: A central fountain and numerous unusual tree varieties, is named in his honor. In addition to the "Asa Gray disjunction", one of Gray's greatest achievements was the vast network of scientists he built who all communicated with one another and exchanged ideas. He is considered the preeminent American botanist of the 19th   century. On Gray's 75th birthday, botanists led by editors of the Botanical Gazette presented Gray with

1352-641: A chance of preserving slavery longer. Regarding his botanical endeavors, the war sundered his supply of information and specimens from the South. Even the Southern botanists who supported the North, such as Alvan Wentworth Chapman and Thomas Minott Peters , were soon forced to cease communications with Gray. It was during the war that Gray first began to think of retiring from his professorial duties so he could concentrate on completing Flora of North America . Harvard

1521-517: A higher proportion of immigrants. New Jersey is home to roughly half a million unauthorized immigrants , comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state. The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are considered sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants. For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see

1690-892: A kindred spirit in Gray, as they both had an empirical approach to science, and first wrote to him in April 1855. During 1855–1881 they exchanged about 300 letters. Darwin then wrote to Gray requesting information about the distribution of various species of American flowers, which Gray provided, and which was helpful for the development of Darwin's theory . This was the beginning of an extensive lifelong correspondence. Gray, Darwin, and Hooker became lifelong friends and colleagues, and Gray and Hooker conducted research on Darwin's behalf in 1877 on their Rocky Mountain expedition. After Hooker returned to England and reported to Darwin on their adventure, Darwin wrote back to Gray: "I have just ... heard prodigies of your strength & activity. That you run up

1859-718: A looser one because they felt that technical English terms were equally incomprehensible to the public. Much of the work was stymied or burned in fires. In 1855, Torrey and Gray contributed a "Report on the Botany of the Expedition" to Volume II of the Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (known as

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2028-481: A lot of wood to burn, and the lumber supply in the area had been shrinking, so Gray's father used his profits to buy farms in the area, and in about 1823 sold the tannery and became a farmer. Gray was an avid reader even in his youth. He completed Clinton Grammar School from about 1823 to 1825, in those years reading many books from the nearby library at Hamilton College . In 1825 he enrolled at Fairfield Academy , switching to its Fairfield Medical College, also known as

2197-799: A major industry, especially the Sterling Hill Mine . New Jersey prospered through the Roaring Twenties . The first Miss America Pageant was held in 1921 in Atlantic City ; the Holland Tunnel connecting Jersey City to Manhattan opened in 1927; and the first drive-in movie was shown in 1933 in Camden . During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents,

2366-518: A million residents commute daily into the city for work, many via public transportation. The Jersey Shore , along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of the northeastern United States . The Delaware Valley includes

2535-640: A month. While in Berlin, he spent most of his time in Schöneberg , where the region's Botanical Gardens were then located. Gray then returned to London by way of Hamburg . Gray admitted he just managed some of the book purchasing and that he delegated the actual buying of books to George Palmer Putnam , who was then living in London. Gray spent a year in Europe, leaving for America from Portsmouth , England, aboard

2704-772: A motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.) John F. Kennedy in World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks in Bayonne . The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped. In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, the NS Savannah , was launched at Camden. In 1951,

2873-431: A mountain like a cat!" Before 1846, Gray had been firmly opposed to the idea of transmutation of species , in which simpler forms naturally become more complex over time, including via hybridization. By the early 1850s, Gray had clearly defined his concept that the species is the basic unit of taxonomy. This was partly the result of the 1831–1836 voyage during which Darwin discovered the differentiation of species among

3042-567: A native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During the American Civil War , the state was led first by Republican governor Charles Smith Olden , then by Democrat Joel Parker . During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from

3211-601: A number of his own writings to produce an influential book, Darwiniana (1876); these essays argued for a conciliation between Darwinian evolution and the tenets of theism , at a time when many on both sides perceived the two as mutually exclusive. Gray denied that investigation of physical causes stood opposed to the theological view and the study of the harmonies between mind and Nature, and thought it "most presumable that an intellectual conception realized in Nature would be realized through natural agencies". The result of all this

3380-472: A plant, particularly the differences in the flowers. Amos Eaton was also a proponent of the artificial system. Gray was so impressed with Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf , a largely self-taught immigrant from Germany who specialized in the flora of the Pacific Northwest , that he had Suksdorf come to Harvard to be his assistant and named the genus Suksdorfia after him. Gray was a leading opponent of

3549-497: A profound impact upon Gray in his manners, tastes, habits, and religious life. In October 1836 Gray was selected to be one of the botanists on the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842), also known as the "Wilkes Expedition", which was supposed to last three years. Gray began getting paid well for his work preparing and planning for this expedition, even to the point of loading supplies onto

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3718-578: A routine at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . The couple was back in America on September 4, 1851. In the meantime, a dispute had arisen between Wilkes and the team of Torrey and Gray about the format of the books resulting from the expedition. Gray almost hired his father-in-law to break the contract. This dispute largely centered on the use of Latin and English. Wilkes wanted a literal Latin to English translation while Torrey and Gray wanted

3887-626: A ship in New York harbor. However, the expedition was fraught with politics, bickering, turmoil, inefficiency, and delays. Referring to the Secretary of the Navy , Mahlon Dickerson , Gray wrote of "abominable management & stupidity". Despite this, Gray resigned from the Lyceum in April 1837 to devote his time to the preparations. By 1838 the expedition was in utter turmoil. The new state of Michigan

4056-561: A silver vase with the inscription "1810, November eighteenth, 1885. Asa Gray, in token of the universal esteem of American Botanists." An accompanying silver salver had the inscription "Bearing the greetings of one hundred and eighty botanists of North America to Asa Gray on his 75th birthday, Nov.   18, 1885." Also received on his 75th birthday was a poem by James Russell Lowell : Just fate, prolong his life, well spent, Whose indefatigable hours Have been as gayly innocent, And fragrant as his flowers. Foreign Member of

4225-459: A study visit to Europe during 1880 and 1881, including a final visit to Darwin at his Down House home. Darwin died in 1882. Gray became engaged to Jane Lathrop Loring of Boston in May 1847. Two of Gray's younger brothers, George and Joseph, were students at Harvard in the late 1840s and lived with Gray. During his junior year, George caught typhoid fever in late 1847 and died on January 9, 1848, in

4394-720: Is Kitty Ann Mountain in Morris County , rising 892 feet (272 m). The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the west side of the Hudson River in Bergen and Hudson Counties . Major New Jersey rivers include the Hudson , Delaware , Raritan , Passaic , Hackensack , Rahway , Musconetcong , Mullica , Rancocas , Manasquan , Maurice , and Toms rivers. Due to New Jersey's peninsular geography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on

4563-399: Is Trenton , and the state's most populous city is Newark . New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemed urban by the U.S. Census Bureau . New Jersey was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians as early as 13,000 B.C.E. The Lenape were the dominant Indigenous group when Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivived into dialectal groups such as

4732-1326: Is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Benjamin Franklin (1756), Charles Babbage (1816), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Jagadish Chandra Bose (1920), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1945), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955), Satyendra Nath Bose (1958), and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Raghunath Mashelkar (1998), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan (2003), Atta-ur-Rahman (2006), Andre Geim (2007), Bai Chunli (2014), James Dyson (2015), Ajay Kumar Sood (2015), Subhash Khot (2017), Elon Musk (2018), Elaine Fuchs (2019) and around 8,000 others in total, including over 280 Nobel Laureates since 1900. As of October 2018 , there are approximately 1,689 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members, of whom 85 are Nobel Laureates. Fellowship of

4901-569: Is bordered to the northeast by New York state ; on its east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean ; on its west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania ; and on its southwest by Delaware Bay and Delaware . At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km ), New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state in land area , but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the 2020 United States census , it ranks 11th in population . The state capital

5070-636: Is confirmed by the Council in April, and a secret ballot of Fellows is held at a meeting in May. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting. An indicative allocation of 18 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates from Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences; and up to 10 from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences. A further maximum of six can be 'Honorary', 'General' or 'Royal' Fellows. Nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by Sectional Committees, each with at least 12 members and

5239-421: Is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society (a proposer and a seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, which was criticised for supposedly establishing an old boy network and elitist gentlemen's club . The certificate of election (see for example ) includes a statement of the principal grounds on which

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5408-475: Is not limited to plants, but also includes fungi, arachnids , millipedes , insects, and freshwater fishes . It was believed that each pair of species might be international sister species , but it is now known that this is not generally the case; the species involved are less closely related to one another. Today, botanists suggest three possible causes for the observed morphological similarity, which probably developed at different times and via different pathways;

5577-483: Is not so. While Gray was not the first botanist to notice this (it was first noticed in the early 18th   century), beginning in the early 1840s he brought scientific focus to the issue. He was the first scientist in the world to possess the requisite knowledge set to do so as he had intimate knowledge of the northeast and southeast United States as well as eastern Asia – due to several contacts he had there. The phenomenon involves about 65   genera and

5746-803: Is now New York Harbor and took control of Fort Amsterdam , annexing the entire province. During the English Civil War , the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to the King . In the Royal Square in St Helier , Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I . North American lands were divided by Charles II , who gave his brother,

5915-600: Is part of the Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Valley metro area. The 21 counties in New Jersey, listed in order by population (as of the 2020 census) are: For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. This paradox is most pronounced in Bergen County , the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which

6084-541: Is that Gray distanced himself from Social Darwinism . Gray is a critical link in the history of American intellectualism, and his writings that explain how religion and science were not necessarily mutually exclusive have been considered his supreme accomplishment; thereby providing a way for believers in Creationism to consider Darwin's ideas. In 1868, Gray had a year's leave of absence and visited Darwin in England,

6253-455: Is the very last, irreducible causal factor and, hence, the source of all evolutionary change." Darwin agreed that his theories were "not at all necessarily atheistical" but was unable to share Gray's belief. "I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton ," he wrote. Gray was a Christian, but he was a staunch supporter of Darwin in America. He collected together

6422-415: Is what finally allowed Gray to resign his professorship and devote all his time to research and writing. Harvard had so much trouble finding a replacement for Gray that they considered hiring a European, but they found an American and hired George Lincoln Goodale in late 1872. Goodale had a medical degree from Harvard and a solid knowledge of botany. By late June 1873 Goodale had enough experience that Gray

6591-454: The 2010 U.S. census , which counted 8,791,894 residents. The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km ). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022,

6760-406: The 2010 United States census , only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census. Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the 2020 U.S. census , the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since

6929-762: The American Civil War 's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage. New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population. Industrialization accelerated in the present-day North Jersey region of the state following completion of the Morris Canal in 1831. The canal allowed for anthracite coal to be transported from eastern Pennsylvania 's Lehigh Valley to North Jersey's growing industries in Paterson , Newark , and Jersey City . In 1844,

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7098-709: The American Revolutionary War , British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times, and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as "The Crossroads of the American Revolution". The winter quarters of the Continental Army were established in New Jersey twice by General George Washington in Morristown , which has been called "The Military Capital of

7267-747: The Appalachian Mountains . Around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic along with rivers, meadows , swamps, and gorges . Since the 6th millennium BC , Native American people have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with the Lenape tribe . Scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that represents present-day New Jersey. The Lenape were several autonomous groups that practiced maize agriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in

7436-618: The Asa Gray House in the Botanic Garden in the summer of 1844. It had been built in 1810 for William Dandridge Peck and later occupied by Thomas Nuttall . As the demands of teaching, collecting, selling specimens, taking care of the herbarium, and writing books increased and he himself was not a good illustrator, Gray found it necessary to hire a botanical illustrator – Isaac Sprague , who illustrated much of Gray's works for decades to come. By June 1848 many of

7605-602: The Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna . Departing Austria, Gray went to Munich , Zürich , and Geneva , where he met the prominent botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle , who died in 1841. Gray continued extensive collaboration with de   Candolle's son Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle . Gray returned to Germany, going to Freiburg , Tübingen , Dresden , Halle , and then Berlin , where he stayed for

7774-622: The Cape May County peninsula at the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, the Jersey Shore became readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile to McGuire Air Force Base . On June 7, 1960, an explosion in a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination. In

7943-717: The College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. By this time, Gray was corresponding and trading specimens with botanists not just in America, but also in Asia, Europe, and the Pacific Islands. Gray held a temporary teaching position in 1834 at Hamilton College . Due to funding shortages, in 1835 Gray was obliged to leave his job as Torrey's assistant, and in February or March 1836 became curator and librarian at

8112-456: The Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under a royal governor rather than a proprietary one . Edward Hyde , titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by

8281-597: The Industrial Revolution in the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercial innovations . Many prominent Americans associated with New Jersey have proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields. New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth and suburbanization in

8450-805: The New Jersey Supreme Court to fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax. In the early part of the 2000s, two light rail systems were opened: the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail in Hudson County and the River Line between Camden and Trenton . The intent of these projects was to encourage transit-oriented development in North Jersey and South Jersey , respectively. The HBLR

8619-606: The New Jersey Turnpike opened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck between North Jersey and metropolitan New York , and South Jersey and metropolitan Philadelphia . Subsequently, in 1957, the Garden State Parkway was completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank between Bergen County in the northeast and

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8788-452: The Pacific Railroad Surveys ). The Report included a catalogue of plants collected along with 10 black and white plates for illustration. During the late summer of 1855, Gray made his third trip to Europe. This was an emergency trip to bring his ill brother-in-law home from Paris. Gray spent only three weeks in London and Paris, and on the way back he read the newly published Géographie botanique raisonnée by Alphonse de   Candolle. This

8957-418: The Philippines . New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has

9126-470: The Scientific Lazzaroni , a group of mostly physical scientists who wanted American academia to mimic the autocratic academic structures of European universities. A large percentage of the original 50 members of the National Academy of Sciences were Lazzaroni members. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was opposed to the National Academy and collectively elected Gray and his friend, colleague, and fellow Charles Darwin supporter William Barton Rogers to

9295-540: The Second Continental Congress declared American Independence from Great Britain . It was an act of the Provincial Congress , which made itself into the State Legislature . To reassure neutrals, it provided that it would become the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56 Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence , five were New Jersey representatives: Richard Stockton , John Witherspoon , Francis Hopkinson , John Hart , and Abraham Clark . During

9464-474: The Skylands Region , is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is the oak . The New Jersey Pine Barrens is situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixed pine and oak forest; its population density is lower than most of the state. High Point in Montague Township , Sussex County is the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highest prominence

9633-435: The Thirteen Colonies that supported the American Revolution , hosting several pivotal battles and military commands in the American Revolutionary War . New Jersey remained in the Union during the American Civil War and provided troops, resources, and military leaders in support of the Union Army . After the war, the state emerged as a major manufacturing center and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive

9802-477: The Yale Divinity School . Liberty Hyde Bailey worked as Gray's herbarium assistant for two years during 1883–1884. In spring 1887 Gray and his wife made their last trip to Europe, this one for six months from April–October, primarily to see Hooker. Gray received the following advanced degrees: honorary degree of Master of Arts (1844) and Doctor of Laws (1875) from Harvard, and Doctor of Laws from Hamilton College (New York) (1860), McGill University (1884), and

9971-549: The exsiccata -like series Lindheimer Flora Texana exsiccata . Another long-term and productive collaboration was with Charles Wright , who collected in Texas and New Mexico on two separate expeditions in 1849 and 1851–1852. These trips resulted in publication of the two-volume Plantae Wrightianae in 1852–1853. Gray traveled to the American West on two separate occasions, the first in 1872 by train, and then again with Joseph Dalton Hooker , son of William Hooker , in 1877. His wife accompanied him on both trips. Both times his goal

10140-426: The post-nominal letters FRS . Every year, fellows elect up to ten new foreign members. Like fellows, foreign members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 , there are around 165 foreign members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS . Honorary Fellowship is an honorary academic title awarded to candidates who have given distinguished service to

10309-420: The standard Human Development Index . According to climatology research by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to warming of the North Atlantic Ocean . The pressure of collision between North America and Africa gave rise to

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10478-453: The 1950s, and by 2020 had rebounded to 311,549. New Jersey is located at the center of the Northeast megalopolis , the most populated American urban agglomeration . It is bordered on the north and northeast by New York (parts of which are across the Hudson River , Upper New York Bay , the Kill Van Kull , Newark Bay , and the Arthur Kill ); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest by Delaware across Delaware Bay ; and on

10647-410: The 1960s, race riots erupted in many of the industrial cities of North Jersey . The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, in Newark and Plainfield . Other riots followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. A riot occurred in Camden in 1971. As a result of an order from

10816-412: The 48 states. In addition, Fort Dix (1917) (originally called "Camp Dix"), Camp Merritt (1917), and Camp Kilmer (1941) were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in the Cold War . Fourteen Nike missile stations were constructed for the defense of the New York City and Philadelphia areas. PT-109 ,

10985-452: The American Revolution." On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River . After the crossing, they surprised and defeated the Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton . Slightly more than a week after victory at Trenton , Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stopping General Cornwallis's charges at the Second Battle of Trenton . By evading Cornwallis's army,

11154-409: The British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges. In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University , making Princeton the nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of

11323-422: The Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to the COVID-19 pandemic . New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemed urban as defined by the Census Bureau . Most residents live in the counties surrounding New York City , the nation's largest city, Philadelphia , the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the eastern Jersey Shore ;

11492-453: The Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack on Princeton and successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777. Emanuel Leutze 's painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware became an icon of the Revolution. Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under General Henry Clinton at the Battle of Monmouth in an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take

11661-401: The Duke of York (later King James II ), the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony ). James then granted land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River (the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War : Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton . The area

11830-433: The Dutch and later European settlers was through fur trade . The Dutch were the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of the modern Mid-Atlantic states. Although the European principle of land ownership was not recognized by the Lenape , Dutch West India Company policy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so

11999-491: The Harvard herbarium, in the first fifteen years he was at Harvard, no graduate entered botany as a career. This changed in 1858 with the arrival of Daniel Cady Eaton , who had graduated from Yale University in 1857 and came to Harvard to study with Gray. Eaton later returned to Yale to be a botany professor and oversee its herbarium, just as Gray did at Harvard. Daniel Eaton was the grandson of Amos Eaton , whose textbooks Gray had studied during his college days. Eaton influenced

12168-682: The Industrial Revolution, having been granted 1,093 patents , many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first at Menlo Park and then in West Orange , are considered perhaps the first research centers in the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved as locomotion and steamboats were introduced to New Jersey. Iron mining

12337-756: The Jersey Shore. The state consists of two climate zones; most of the state has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), while the northwest has a humid continental climate (Dfa). New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually. Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of

12506-749: The Loring house in Boston. This is part of the reason Gray's marriage was delayed from fall 1847 to spring 1848. Gray and Jane Loring married on May 4, 1848. Her parents were Charles Greely Loring (1794–1867), a member of the Harvard Corporation and a lawyer, and Anna Pierce (Brace) Loring. Her family was Unitarian , like most faculty and staff of Harvard at the time. Both of them kept to their separate religious denominations yet seem to have had no difficulties over it. They had no children. Jane Gray accompanied her husband on most of his expeditions. Gray

12675-538: The Lyceum of Natural History in New York, now called the New York Academy of Sciences . He had an apartment in their new building in Manhattan. Torrey's attempt to get Gray a job at Princeton University was unsuccessful, as were other attempts to find him a position in science. Despite Gray no longer being his assistant, Torrey and Gray became lifelong friends and colleagues. Torrey's wife, Eliza Torrey, had

12844-614: The Medical College of the Western District of Fairfield, in autumn 1826. It was during this time that Gray began to mount botanical specimens. On a trip to New York City, he attempted to meet with John Torrey to get assistance in identifying specimens, but Torrey was not home, so Gray left the specimens at Torrey's house. Torrey was so impressed with Gray's specimens that he began a correspondence with him. Gray graduated and became an M.D. in February 1831, even though he

13013-679: The Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere. Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state, with the British later seizing control of the region and establishing the Province of New Jersey , named after Jersey . The colony's fertile lands and relative religious tolerance drew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among

13182-724: The National Academy. Rogers founded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . This is one of the areas where Gray and his friend and colleague, Louis Agassiz , were in disagreement; Agassiz was a member of the Lazzaroni group. Agassiz had come to lecture at the Lowell Institute in 1846 and got hired by Harvard in 1847. Gray befriended him the way he had been befriended during his trip to Europe. Gray abhorred slavery . In his view, science proved

13351-604: The Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection . By summer 1859 it was obvious to Gray and others working with Darwin that On the Origin of Species would be a ground-breaking book. Darwin published On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859. The first printing was 1,250 copies, with some having been sent to America via ship, one of which was for Gray. Gray's copy arrived just before Christmas, and he read it between Christmas and New Year. Since there

13520-613: The Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society ( FRS , ForMemRS and HonFRS ) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge , including mathematics , engineering science , and medical science ". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence,

13689-439: The Royal Society has been described by The Guardian as "the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar " with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows (FRS), honorary (HonFRS) and foreign members (ForMemRS) are elected annually in late April or early May, from a pool of around 700 proposed candidates each year. New Fellows can only be nominated by existing Fellows for one of

13858-663: The Society, we shall be free from this Obligation for the future". Since 2014, portraits of Fellows at the admissions ceremony have been published without copyright restrictions in Wikimedia Commons under a more permissive Creative Commons license which allows wider re-use. In addition to the main fellowships of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS & HonFRS), other fellowships are available which are applied for by individuals, rather than through election. These fellowships are research grant awards and holders are known as Royal Society Research Fellows . In addition to

14027-431: The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have concluded that New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century. The U.S. Census Bureau divides New Jersey's 21 counties into seven metropolitan statistical areas , with 20 counties included in either the New York City or Philadelphia Combined Statistical Area . Warren County

14196-822: The United States Geological and Geophysical Survey of the Territories . On both trips he climbed Grays Peak , one of Colorado's many fourteeners . His wife climbed Grays Peak with him in 1872. This mountain was named after Gray by the botanist and explorer of the Rocky Mountains Charles Christopher Parry . Prior to the 1870s, collecting in the western part of the country required slow horses, wagons, and often military escorts. But by this time, permanent settlements and railroads resulted in so many specimens coming in that Gray alone could not keep up with them. One of

14365-626: The University of Michigan (1887). Prior to 1840, besides what he had discovered during his trip to Europe, Gray's knowledge of the flora of the American West was limited to what he could learn from Edwin James , who had been on the expedition to the West of Major Stephen Harriman Long , and from Thomas Nuttall , who had been on an expedition to the Pacific coast with Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth . In

14534-596: The award of Fellowship (FRS, HonFRS & ForMemRS) and the Research Fellowships described above, several other awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society are also given. New Jersey New Jersey is a state in both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is the most densely populated state and at the center of the Northeast megalopolis . New Jersey

14703-612: The cause of science, but do not have the kind of scientific achievements required of Fellows or Foreign Members. Honorary Fellows include the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (2022), Bill Bryson (2013), Melvyn Bragg (2010), Robin Saxby (2015), David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008), Onora O'Neill (2007), John Maddox (2000), Patrick Moore (2001) and Lisa Jardine (2015). Honorary Fellows are entitled to use

14872-766: The condition that the herbarium and garden be built. This effectively created the botany department at Harvard, and the Gray Herbarium was named after him. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1872 and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1863–1873. Gray was also a regent at the Smithsonian Institution in 1874–1888 and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London in 1873. The Elements of Botany (1836), an introductory textbook,

15041-430: The early 1840s, and they remained friends and colleagues until Engelmann died in 1884. Torrey was an early American supporter of the "natural system of classification", which relies upon geography and a plant's entire structure, and as his assistant, Gray was a proponent of this system, too. This contrasts with Linnaeus' artificial classification , which was designed for ease of use and focused on readily observed aspects of

15210-436: The early 1870s was a major accomplishment of Gray's. Gray worked extensively on a phenomenon that is now called the "Asa Gray disjunction", namely, the surprising morphological similarities between many eastern Asian and eastern North American plants. In fact, Gray felt the flora of eastern North America is more similar to the flora of Japan than it is to the flora of western North America, but more recent studies have shown this

15379-470: The early 1880s, Gray's home was the center of everything to do with botany in America. Every aspiring botanist came to see him, even if just to look at him through his window. After turning over his non-research duties to Sargent, Goodale, Farlow, and Watson, Gray concentrated more on research and writing, especially on plant taxonomy , as well as lecturing around the country, largely promoting Darwinian ideas. Many of his lectures during this time were given at

15548-546: The era, as well as trips to the southern and western United States. He also built an extensive network of specimen collectors. A prolific writer, he was instrumental in unifying the taxonomic knowledge of the plants of North America. Of Gray's many works on botany, the most popular was his Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and South to Ohio and Pennsylvania Inclusive , known today simply as Gray's Manual . Gray

15717-616: The extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, the United States Census Bureau calculated that New Jersey's center of population was located in East Brunswick . The state is located in the middle of the Northeast megalopolis , which has more than 50 million residents. As of 2019, New Jersey was the third highest U.S. state measured by median household income , behind Maryland and Massachusetts ;

15886-528: The fellowships described below: Every year, up to 52 new fellows are elected from the United Kingdom, the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations , and Ireland, which make up around 90% of the society. Each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use

16055-619: The first ten years of English rule took place along the Hackensack River and Arthur Kill . Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony to Quakers in England, who settled the Delaware Valley region as a Quaker colony, with William Penn acting as trustee for the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces, East and West Jersey , for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of

16224-513: The first time they had met since they started their correspondence. Darwin had Gray in mind when he wrote, "It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist & an evolutionist." Darwin dedicated his 1877 book, The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species , to Gray, "as a small tribute of respect and affection". One area where Darwin and Gray disagreed was Darwin's theory of pangenesis . The Grays embarked on

16393-458: The following articles: New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse states in the United States. Nearly one-fourth of New Jerseyans (22.7%) were foreign born , compared to the national average of 13.5%. As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white. The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that

16562-540: The good of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that, whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our hands, that we desire to withdraw from

16731-579: The governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York. Judge Lewis Morris led the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor by King George II in 1738. New Jersey was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution . The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before

16900-694: The herbarium and writing books in exchange for the rent of the house in which he and his wife lived on the university grounds. Due to the way the finances of the funding sources were handled and the lack of a replacement, Gray was unable to resign at that time. In late 1872 Charles Sprague Sargent was appointed director of the Botanic Garden, the newly constructed Arnold Arboretum , and new botany-related buildings. This freed up much of Gray's time. Also, late in 1872, Ignatius Sargent , Charles' father, and Horatio Hollis Hunnewell both agreed to donate $ 500 yearly each to support Gray so that he could devote "undivided attention" to completing Flora of North America . This

17069-534: The herbariums in Europe. Mr.   and Mrs.   Gray departed for England on June 11, 1850. They spent the summer traveling to Belgium , Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands . Gray then set down to work on the expedition's plant sheets at the estate of botanist George Bentham , whom he had met eleven years earlier, and then with William Henry Harvey in Ireland. Gray returned to England and settled into

17238-436: The highest number of millionaires both per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the most scientists and engineers per square mile in the world. According to HUD 's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report , there were an estimated 8,752 homeless people in New Jersey. The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 were India , Dominican Republic , Mexico , Ecuador , and

17407-523: The late 1850s: First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology (1857) and How Plants Grow: A Simple Introduction to Structural Botany (1858). The publishers pressured Gray to make these two books non-technical enough so that high school students and non-scientists could understand them. As with most scientists in American academic institutions, Gray found it difficult to concentrate purely on research. Gray met physician and botanist George Engelmann in

17576-824: The latter half of 1840, Gray met the German-American botanist and physician George Engelmann in New York City. Engelmann took frequent trips to explore the American West and northern Mexico. The two remained close friends and botanical collaborators. Engelmann would send specimens to Gray, who would classify them and act as a sales agent. Their collaborations greatly enhanced botanical knowledge of those areas. Another German-American botanist, Ferdinand Lindheimer , collaborated with both Engelmann and Gray, focusing on collecting plants in Texas , hoping to find specimens with "no Latin names". This cooperation resulted in issuing

17745-407: The main purpose of this trip was to examine American flora in Europe's herbariums. Gray departed on the packet ship Philadelphia on November 9, 1838, sailing through The Narrows out of New York Harbor nine days before his 28th birthday. Gray and the regents were both involved in stocking the university library. In 1839 the regents purchased a complete copy of Audubon's The Birds of America for

17914-419: The most populous is Hackensack , with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km ) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km ). As of

18083-565: The nail, in an accident in the garden. Despite now being 50 years old, he regretted that this accident ended his "fighting days". After hostilities began, he joined a company that guarded the Massachusetts State Arsenal in Cambridge . He also bought war bonds, was surprised more people did not do likewise, and supported a 5%   tax to support the war. Gray regretted not having children because he had "no son to send to

18252-481: The newly founded University of Michigan , although in the event he never taught classes. His position was also the first one devoted solely to botany at any educational institution in America. Appointed Professor of Botany and Zoology, Gray was dispatched to Europe by the regents of the university for the purpose of purchasing a suitable array of books to form the university's library, and equipment such as microscopes to aid research. Botanist Charles F. Jenkins states that

18421-417: The northeastern United States. Hurricanes and tropical storms , tornadoes , and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in 1903 , Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999 , and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 , which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h). Climate change is affecting New Jersey faster than much of the rest of the United States. Climatologists at

18590-578: The northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May. All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, in Runyon , Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, in River Vale , Bergen County. Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in

18759-477: The origin of species. By that time, Darwin had begun writing his book On the Origin of Species . The correspondence with Gray was thus a key piece of evidence in establishing Darwin's intellectual priority with respect to the theory of evolution by natural selection . Neither Darwin nor Wallace attended the meeting. The papers were published by the society as On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on

18928-460: The post nominal letters HonFRS . Statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough (1983) and John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne (1991). The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British royal family for election as Royal Fellow of the Royal Society . As of 2023 there are four royal fellows: Elizabeth II

19097-538: The post-war collectors who worked extensively with Gray was John Gill Lemmon , husband of fellow botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon . Gray named a new genus Plummera , now called Hymenoxys , in Sara's honor. Gray and Joseph Dalton Hooker went to visit Richard Owen at London's Hunterian Museum in January 1839. Gray met Charles Darwin during lunch that day at Kew Gardens , apparently introduced by Hooker. Darwin found

19266-423: The proceeds to accumulate until it could fund a full year's salary for a professor. Because of this and a few problems in finding a suitable professor, this chair was not filled until it was formally offered to Gray on March 26, 1842. The offer was $ 1,000/year salary, teaching duties limited to only botany, and being superintendent of Harvard's botanic garden. While the salary was low, the teaching limitation, rare for

19435-415: The progress he desired on Synoptical Flora of North America , the follow-on to Flora of North America . This burden consisted of the fact that other scientists often only accepted Gray's word on a botanical matter, and the number of incoming specimens to identify was increasing vastly: numbers had to be assigned to them, collectors needed to be corresponded with, and preliminary papers had to be published. By

19604-552: The proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations made each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The Council of the Royal Society oversees the selection process and appoints 10 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees, to recommend the strongest candidates for election to the Fellowship. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates

19773-465: The region surrounding the Delaware River , the lower Hudson River , and western Long Island Sound . The Lenape were divided into matrilineal clans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign: Turtle , Turkey , and Wolf . They first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with

19942-433: The sailing ship Toronto on October 1, 1839, and arriving back in New York on November 4. Gray, together with his agents, eventually purchased about 3,700 books for the University of Michigan library. The regents at the University of Michigan were so impressed by Gray's work in Europe, including his spending about $ 1,500 of his own money on specimen collections, that they granted him another year's salary that covered him until

20111-537: The scientific community. Gray showed little interest in scientific politics and resigned from the National Academy of Sciences in 1867. In late 1866 Agassiz apologized to Gray and the two were at least civil to one another again. Gray, considered by Darwin to be his friend and "best advocate", also attempted to convince Darwin in his letters that design was inherent in all forms of life , and to return to his faith. Gray saw nature as filled with "unmistakable and irresistible indications of design" and argued that "God himself

20280-533: The second state constitution was ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation of Mercer County ) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1962, by the decision Baker v. Carr . While the Governorship

20449-408: The second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors including biotechnology , pharmaceuticals , information technology , finance , and tourism , and it has become an Atlantic seaboard epicenter for logistics and distribution . New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of

20618-495: The sense of its not allowing for evolution. When Darwin received Alfred Russel Wallace 's paper that described natural selection , Hooker and Charles Lyell arranged for a joint reading of papers by Darwin and Wallace to the Linnean Society on July 1, 1858. Since Darwin had nothing prepared, the reading included excerpts from his 1844 Essay and from a letter he had sent to Asa Gray in July 1857 outlining his theory on

20787-457: The sense of its not allowing for evolution. He was a strong supporter of Darwin, although Gray's theistic evolution was guided by a Creator. As a professor of botany at Harvard University for several decades, Gray regularly visited, and corresponded with, many of the leading natural scientists of the era, including Charles Darwin , who held great regard for him. Gray made several trips to Europe to collaborate with leading European scientists of

20956-645: The signing of the Treaty of Paris , which ended the war. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution , which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from charging tariffs on goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify the Bill of Rights . The 1776 New Jersey State Constitution gave

21125-494: The south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer. During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experience nor'easters , which are capable of causing blizzards or flooding throughout

21294-414: The southwestern counties of the state, which reside within the Delaware Valley surrounding Philadelphia . Despite its heavily urban character and a long history of industrialization , forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km ), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories. Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as

21463-553: The species in the wild in bloom, but made a final trip to this region in 1884. Both Gray and Torrey were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in December 1841. Gray never returned to teach a course at Michigan. In 1833 Dr.   Joshua Fisher, a resident of Beverly, Massachusetts , and a Harvard University alumnus, bequeathed $ 20,000 to Harvard to endow a chair in natural history. The university allowed

21632-423: The species pairs are: (1)   the products of similar environmental conditions in separate locations, (2)   relics of species that were formerly widely distributed but diversified later, (3)   not as morphologically similar as was previously believed. Gray's work in this area gave significant support to Darwin's theory of evolution and is one of the hallmarks of Gray's career. In 1880 David P. Penhallow

21801-483: The specimens from the Wilkes Expedition had been damaged or lost. Many were still not classified or published, as the mismanagement and bungling that had plagued the expedition before it ever departed continued. While on a trip to Washington, D.C., that month with his new bride, Gray was hired to study the botanical specimens for five years. This included a year in Europe, with his wife, using the facilities at

21970-545: The state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there. In the Industrial Revolution , cities like Paterson grew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a more industrialized economy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk. Inventor Thomas Edison also became an important figure of

22139-429: The state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population. Many of the municipalities in Bergen County, New Jersey ,

22308-437: The state's median household income was over $ 85,000 compared to the national average of roughly $ 65,000. Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%, and the sixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico . This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City and Philadelphia , its hosting

22477-434: The state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone classification ranges from   6 in

22646-525: The state, or over 323,000, are millionaires , the highest representation of millionaires among all states. New Jersey's public school system consistently ranks at or among the top of all U.S. states. In 2024, New Jersey was ranked as having the second-healthiest population overall. New Jersey was ranked as the fourth most diverse state in 2024. New Jersey ranks near the top on both the American Human Development Index and

22815-698: The summer of 1841. However, finances at the university were so bad that they asked him to resign in April 1840. While he was in Paris at the Jardin des Plantes, Gray saw an unnamed dried specimen, collected by André Michaux , and named it Shortia galacifolia . He spent considerable time and effort over the next 38 years looking for a specimen in the wild. The first such expedition was in late June to late July 1841 to an area near Jefferson, Ashe County, North Carolina . His further expeditions searching for this species were also unsuccessful, including one in 1876. In May 1877

22984-630: The teaching style of Gray, and both required practical work of their students. Gray retained the Fisher post until 1873 while living in the Asa Gray House. In 1859 Gray was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . The National Academy of Sciences was created by Congress on March 3, 1863, and he was one of the original 50 members. In 1864 Gray donated 200,000 plant specimens and 2,200 books to Harvard with

23153-888: The then-extraordinary sum of $ 970. Gray's first stop was in Glasgow , visiting William Hooker , who aided and financially supported many botanists, including Gray. On January 16, 1839, he arrived in London and stayed until March 14. He then spent time in Paris, where he collaborated with Joseph Decaisne at the Jardin des Plantes . In mid-April 1839 he left Paris for Italy by way of southern France, then visiting Genoa , Rome, Florence , Venice, Bologna , Padua , and Trieste . After Italy, Gray went to Vienna , Austria. While in Vienna, he spent twelve days studying specimen collections and gardens with Stephan Endlicher , who also introduced him to other local botanists. In 1840 Endlicher became director of

23322-577: The time, allowed him plenty of time to do research and work in the botanic garden. After an exchange of letters, Gray accepted this appointment as Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard. The formal appointment was made April 30, 1842. Gray arrived at Harvard on July 22, 1842, and began his duties in September. He did not have to teach in the fall of 1842, but began in spring 1843, the first classes he had taught in nine years. Early in his years at Harvard, Gray had to borrow money from his father. Soon he

23491-472: The unity of all man because all human races can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, i.e., all members of a species are connected genetically. He also felt Christianity taught the unity of man. He was not an abolitionist , feeling it was more important to preserve the Union, yet he also felt if the South persevered in the conflict, every slave should be set free, by use of more force if necessary. However, he

23660-492: The various Galápagos Islands . Local geography could produce variances, like in the Galápagos and Hawaii, which Gray did not get to study in depth as he had wanted. Gray was insistent that a genetic connection must exist between all members of a species, that like begat like. This concept was critical to Darwin's theories. Gray was also strongly opposed to the ideas of hybridization within one generation and special creation in

23829-470: The vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed

23998-686: The war there was an upswing in the numbers of botany students. Gray was grooming Horace Mann Jr. as his replacement, but he died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 in November 1868. Growing weary of his workload, Gray and his wife departed on a trip to Britain, Egypt (for three months), and Switzerland in September 1868. It was during the winter spent in Egypt that Gray first grew his white beard. They returned in autumn 1869. In early 1872 Gray tried to resign his professorship and garden duties still with no replacement for himself. He proposed only looking after

24167-403: The war". Gray considered Abraham Lincoln as a second George Washington because of the way he managed to preserve the Union during the war. He also predicted that the fate of slavery depended upon the length and bitterness of the war, and the longer it lasted the more disastrous it would be for the South. As a corollary, he felt that if the South had given up early in the war, they would have had

24336-577: The west by Pennsylvania across the Delaware River . New Jersey is broadly divided into the North , Central , and South Jersey geographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as the Gateway Region , lies closest to Manhattan in New York City, and up to

24505-475: The world's most multicultural populations . Echoing historical trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in cities outpacing suburbs since 2008. New Jersey is one of the most educated, affluent, healthy, diverse and highly developed states in the U.S., ranking it high in several quality of life metrics. As of 2022, New Jersey had the highest annual median household income , at $ 96,346, of all 50 states. Almost one-tenth of all households in

24674-865: The zeppelin airship Hindenburg crashed in flames over Lakehurst , and the SS Morro Castle beached itself near Asbury Park after going up in flames while at sea. Through both World Wars , New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company yards in Kearny and Newark and the New York Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden produced aircraft carriers , battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II , ranking fifth among

24843-488: Was Michiel Pauw , who established a patron ship called Pavonia in 1630 along North River , that eventually became Bergen . Peter Minuit 's purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden , that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory of England on June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what

25012-517: Was a devout Presbyterian and was a member of First Church in Cambridge, a Congregational church , where he served as a deacon . He was also an ardent empiricist in the tradition of John Locke and John Stuart Mill . When the congregation moved into its present building in 1872, at 11   Garden Street, Gray planted two Kentucky yellowwood trees, Cladrastis kentukea , in front of the church. They stood until October 2014. On Monday, November 28, 1887, Gray's hand and arm became paralyzed while he

25181-491: Was a ground-breaking book that for the first time brought together the large mass of data being collected by the expeditions of the time. The natural sciences had become highly specialized, yet this book synthesized them to explain living organisms within their environment and why plants were distributed the way they were, all upon a geologic scale. Gray instantly saw that this brought taxonomic botany into focus. Despite Gray constantly seeking collectors and people to help him with

25350-454: Was able to repay his father and help his family by supplementing his income giving lectures outside of Harvard, including at the Lowell Institute . Gray was considered a weak lecturer, but because of his expert knowledge, he was highly regarded by his peers. His skills were better suited to teaching advanced rather than introductory classes. He also gained renown for his textbooks and high quality illustrations. Gray moved into what became known as

25519-409: Was able to secure substantial new funding for its botanical programs in the years after the war, but Gray encountered significant trouble finding a suitable replacement for his professorial duties. The American university system had failed to train replacements for its professors. Only Harvard and Yale had botany programs, and in the war and pre-war years there had been few botany students. However, after

25688-444: Was accepted by Gray as a research assistant. Penhallow aided in Gray's work regarding the distribution of northern hemisphere plants, and in 1882 Gray recommended Penhallow as a lecturer to Sir John Dawson of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec , Canada. Despite no longer having the burden of his professorial and garden duties, by the late 1870s the burden of maintaining himself as the pillar of American botany prevented Gray from

25857-408: Was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century. Bog iron pits in the New Jersey Pine Barrens were among the first sources of iron for the new nation. Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for the Morris Canal . Zinc mines were also

26026-432: Was botanical research, and he avidly collected plant specimens to bring back with him to Harvard. On his second trip through the American West, he and Hooker reportedly collected over 1,000 specimens. Gray's and Hooker's research was reported in their joint 1880 publication, "The Vegetation of the Rocky Mountain Region and a Comparison with that of Other Parts of the World," which appeared in volume six of Hayden's Bulletin of

26195-425: Was coming down the stairs for breakfast. Even though the paralysis worsened, he was able to address two letters. On Thursday he lost the ability to speak in a steady rhythm. He lay speechless and quiet for two months, and died on January 30, 1888. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery . He wanted a simple gravestone, so his wife had it engraved with a cross and "Asa Gray 1810–1888". The cemetery's Asa Gray Garden, with

26364-496: Was credited with a revitalization of Hudson County and Jersey City . Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146, with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010, representing an increase of 5.9% from the 2010 U.S. census , when the city's population was enumerated at 247,597. Between 2000 and 2010 Newark experienced its first population increase since

26533-595: Was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society . Gray was born in Sauquoit, New York , on November 18, 1810, to Moses Gray (b.   February 26, 1786), then a tanner , and Roxanna Howard Gray (b. March 15, 1789). Born in the back of his father's tannery, Gray was the eldest of their eight children. Gray's paternal great-grandfather had arrived in Boston from Northern Ireland in 1718; Gray's Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestors had moved to New York from Massachusetts and Vermont after Shays' Rebellion . His parents married on July 30, 1809. Tanneries needed

26702-451: Was excited to pronounce he had taught his last class. William Gilson Farlow also had a medical degree from Harvard and had studied botany. He became Gray's assistant in 1870 after obtaining his medical degree and then studied in Europe for a few years. He returned to Harvard in 1874 and became a botany professor. Sereno Watson began helping Gray with taxonomy in 1872 and became the herbarium curator. The reorganization of botany at Harvard in

26871-591: Was hired to teach chemistry, mineralogy , and botany at Bartlett's High School in Utica, New York , and at Fairfield Medical School, replacing instructors who had died in mid-term. Agreeing to teach for one year, with a break from August to December 1832, Gray had to cancel his plans for an expedition to Mexico, which at the time included what is now the southwestern United States. Gray first met Torrey in person in September 1832, and they went on an expedition to New Jersey. After completing his teaching assignment in Utica on August 1, 1833, Gray became an assistant to Torrey at

27040-514: Was named the Province of New Jersey . Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic and religious diversity . New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individual landholdings of 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. English Quakers and Anglicans owned large landholdings. Unlike Plymouth Colony , Jamestown and other colonies, New Jersey

27209-438: Was no international copyright law at the time, Gray worked to protect the book from publishing piracy. According to American law at the time, a copyright could only be secured by an American edition being published by an American citizen, and royalties were not required to be paid to the author. Gray arranged the first American edition of On the Origin of Species and was able to negotiate royalties on Darwin's behalf. Gray took

27378-421: Was not a Royal Fellow, but provided her patronage to the society, as all reigning British monarchs have done since Charles II of England . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1951) was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination and a period of peer-reviewed selection. Each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership

27547-409: Was not sure what should be done with the freed slaves. This was another area where Gray and Agassiz disagreed; Agassiz felt each race had different origins. During the American Civil War , Gray was a steadfast supporter of the North and the Republican Party . About February 1861 – two months before the war started – Gray lost part of his left thumb, just above the base of

27716-491: Was not yet 21 years of age, which was a requirement at the time. Although Gray did open a medical office in Bridgewater, New York , where he had served an apprenticeship with Doctor John Foote Trowbridge while he was in medical school, he never truly practiced medicine, as he enjoyed botany more. It was around this time that he began making explorations in New York and New Jersey . By autumn 1831 he had all but given up his medical practice to devote more time to botany. In 1832 he

27885-556: Was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era, and commercial farming developed sporadically. Some townships, such as Burlington on the Delaware River and Perth Amboy , emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands and tolerant religious policy drew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for

28054-403: Was starting its university, and Gray applied for a professorship in early 1838. He resigned from the Wilkes Expedition on July 10, 1838. In 1848 Gray was hired to work on the botanical specimens, and published the first volume of the report on botany in 1854, but Wilkes was unable to secure the funding for the second volume. On July 17, 1838, Gray became the very first permanent paid professor at

28223-494: Was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself. New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others being Delaware and Kentucky ) to select a candidate other than Abraham Lincoln twice in national elections, and sided with Stephen A. Douglas (1860) and George B. McClellan (1864) during their campaigns. McClellan,

28392-405: Was the first of Gray's many works. In this book Gray espoused the idea that botany was useful not only to medicine, but also to farmers. Gray and Torrey published the Flora of North America together in 1838. By the mid-1850s the demands of teaching, research, gardening, collecting, and corresponding had become so great, and he had become so influential, that Gray wrote two high school-level texts in

28561-515: Was the sole author of the first five editions of the book and co-author of the sixth, with botanical illustrations by Isaac Sprague . Further editions have been published, and it remains a standard in the field. Gray also worked extensively on a phenomenon that is now called the "Asa Gray disjunction" , namely, the surprising morphological similarities between many eastern Asian and eastern North American plants. Several structures, geographic features, and plants have been named after Gray. In 1848, Gray

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