RARE ! Lettre manuscrite "Président de liquidation l'Université du Wisconsin" Dr Edward Birge

Up for auction a RARE! "limnology Pioneer" Edward Asahel Birge Hand Written Letter.  

ES-1755

Edward Asahel Birge (September 7, 1851 –

June 9, 1950) was an American professor and administrator at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

He was one of the pioneers of the study of limnology, and served as acting president of the university

from 1900 to 1903 and as president from 1918 to 1925. Birge was born in Troy, New York. He received a bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1873. He moved on to Harvard University, where

he studied under Louis Agassiz and was awarded a Ph.D.

in zoology in 1878. While still completing his Ph.D., Birge

was appointed an instructor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in natural

history in 1875. He was later appointed as dean in 1891. Birge became known as

a scientist and administrator. He served as dean, director of the Wisconsin

Geological and Natural History Survey,[1] and under President Charles Kendall Adams,

unofficial deputy to the president. In 1900, an ailing Adams left the

university. Birge was named acting president in Adams' absence. He hoped to be

named permanently to the post, but was passed over in favor of Charles R. Van Hise in

1903 after a boardroom battle between university regents William F. Vilas, who favored Birge, and Governor Robert M. La Follette, who

favored Van Hise. Birge remained dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Van

Hise died unexpectedly in 1918, and Birge was once again asked to serve as

president of the university. This time he was formally named to the post, and

served as president until 1925. He was regarded as an efficient administrator

but was criticized then and later for refusing to make substantial changes to

the university to adapt to the increase in students in the wake of World War I.  From 1921

through 1922, Birge engaged in a running debate with William Jennings Bryan,

who considered evolution a heresy and labeled Birge

an atheist in several speeches. Birge, a lifelong Congregationalist who

had taught Bible classes for most of his professional life, wrote a pamphlet

defending evolution as supported by the Bible. Birge and his close

collaborator Chancey Juday were pioneers of North

American limnology (the study of inland

waters, such as rivers and lakes).

Together they founded an influential school of limnology on Lake Mendota, as a component of the University of Wisconsin.

Birge retired from the administration in 1925 but continued his limnological

research until the early 1940s, primarily in partnership with Juday. In 1950 he

shared the Einar Naumann Medal of the International Association of

Limnology with Juday. He died in 1950. Birge Hall on

the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus

is named for him.