H. Newell Martin, W. K. Brooks, and the Reformation of American Biology

Johns Hopkins University pioneered a new model for graduateeducation in biology. Prior toits opening in 1876, opportunitiesfor graduate education in biology were extremely limited intheUnited States. Under the careful leadership of W. K. Brooksand H. Newell Martin, JohnsHopkins not only provided for theeducation of many of the first generation of American-trainedbiologists, but it also developed a new and workable model foradvanced training in the biological sciences. This model, formedaround laboratory training and original research, was adoptedbymany American universities by the end of the nineteenth century.     

H. N. Martin and W. K. Brooks: Exemplars for American Biology?

The Johns Hopkins University offered the first modern, American,research-oriented programin biology when it opened in 1876.The program included both physiological and morphological work,so that students could choose either for their advanced degrees.Physiologists studied with Henry Newell Martin, morphologistswith William Keith Brooks. Yet students took courses in bothareas, and the unique exposure to two lines of research andto two very different sorts of teachers made the Johns Hopkinsprogram exceptional. This paper outlines the dual characterof biology at Hopkins, and the particular contributions of bothMartin and Brooks. It also argues that the impact of that uniquedual offering on four of the more famous students, E. B. Wilson,T. H. Morgan, E. G. Conklin, and R. G. Harrison, strongly influencedthe successful and progressive program of research that eachchose.