John Cassin

John Cassin (September 6, 1813 – January 10, 1869) was an American ornithologist from Pennsylvania. He worked as curator and vice president at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and focused on the systemic classification of the academy's extensive collection of birds. He was one of the founders of the Delaware County Institute of Science and published several books describing 194 new species of birds. Five species of North American birds, a cicada, and a mineral are named in his honor.

Early life and education

Cassin was born in Upper Providence Township, Pennsylvania on September 6, 1813.

He was educated at the Westtown School in Westtown Township, Pennsylvania. His great Uncle, John Cassin, was a commodore in the U.S. Navy and served in the War of 1812.

He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was held prisoner in the infamous Confederate Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia.

Career

Cassin moved to Philadelphia in 1834 and became the head of a lithographing business in which many of his illustrations of birds were later printed. He served for a brief time in the Philadelphia City Council. He was a member of the Zoological Society, the American Philosophical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

In 1833, Cassin, along with 4 colleagues, founded the Delaware County Institute of Science in Media, Pennsylvania.

In 1842, he was elected curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. From 1846 to 1850, Thomas Bellerby Wilson, a wealthy patron of the academy, became interested in the department of ornithology and procured a collection of over 25,000 birds. The academy had the largest ornithological collection in the United States at the time and included an extensive collection of non-North American species. This exceptional collection of birds allowed Cassin to become the leading ornithological taxonomist in the world.