Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940

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Professor of biology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

From the description of Correspondence to Morley Roberts, 1934. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 645650881

Raymond Pearl was a biologist and statistician. He spent most of his academic career (1918-1940) at the Johns Hopkins University, where he was Professor of Biometry and Vital Statistics and Director of the Institute of Biological Research. He was founder of the "Quarterly Review of Biology" and "Human Biology," he made significant contributions in the areas of biology, genetics, eugenics, and statistics.

From the description of Papers, ca. 1895-1940. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 154298101

An early and influential advocate for the importation of statistics into biological analysis, Raymond Pearl was a pioneer in American population biology and ecology. The son of Frank Pearl, a grocery clerk and shoe factory foreman, and Ida May McDuffee, Pearl attended Dartmouth College (A.B., 1899) and the University of Michigan (Ph.D., 1902). Like many students of his generation, Pearl traveled abroad after receiving his doctorate to strengthen his education, studying first at the University of Leipzig in 1905, and then under Karl Pearson at University College London (1905-1906). It was Pearson who quickened Pearl's interests in quantitative analysis and fostered his first efforts to apply statistics to population genetics. He married Maud Mary Dewitt, a fellow student at Michigan, and long his collaborator, in 1903.

Pearl's first academic appointments upon returning to the States were as an instructor of zoology at the University of Pennsylvania (1906-1907) and as chair of the Department of Biology at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station (1907-1918). Befitting his position in Maine, Pearl was engaged primarily in applied research in the genetics of poultry and cattle. Through studies aimed at increasing the productivity of egg-laying in chickens, he turned from an analysis of the inheritance of individual traits to patterns of inheritance in populations. Recognizing, as Mendelian theory predicted, that individuals often did not express the same traits as their parents, Pearl began to study population-level characteristics such as birth rate, death rate, and population size, and to reconceptualize the genetic and environmental dynamics of evolutionary change. His work took him variously into a reanalysis of Malthus' predictions on population density and into direct conflict with the tendencies of much eugenic research to focus on individual traits and individual couples. By 1915, his reputation had grown widely enough in scientific circles to merit election to the American Philosophical Society and, in 1916, to the National Academy of Sciences.

Leaving Maine to become Professor of Biometry at Johns Hopkins in 1918, Pearl entered into the most productive period of his career. At Hopkins, where he served variously as Professor of Biology (1923-1940) and as statistician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (1919-1935), Pearl turned a statistical eye toward the dynamics of human populations, producing remarkably accurate and durable estimates of changes in world population based upon the best-guess estimates for birth rate and longevity. More controversially, based upon U.S. Census data from 1920, he and Lowell J. Reed theorized that the logistic (sigmoidal) curve was in effect a law of nature describing population growth: after a slow initial period of expansion, populations enter a phase of exponential growth until the they reach the carrying capacity of the environment and level off. Although recognized as a useful heuristic for exploring population dynamics, Pearl's aggressive promotion of the logistic curve and his truculence in its defence alienated many of his colleagues. In other research, Pearl experimented with the factors influencing population dynamics in Drosophila melanogaster, turned to estimates of life expectancy based upon occupation and personal habits, and entered into various statistical aspects of reproductive behavior. An inveterate opponent of most eugenic policies, and critic of eugenic research, he was nevertheless a strong and vocal supporter of birth control and population planning.

Using funds provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, Pearl established the Institute for Biological Research at Johns Hopkins in 1925, heading it throughout its five year existence. He was also active in numerous professional organizations, serving as president of the International Union for Scientific Investigation of Population Problems (1928-1931), the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (1934-1936), and the American Statistical Association (1939),and helping to found and edit the Quarterly Review of Biology in 1926 and Human Biology in 1929. An agile and prolific writer, Pearl wrote 17 books and nearly 700 articles during his career on a extraordinary range of subjects.

From the guide to the Raymond Pearl Papers, Circa 1895-1940, (American Philosophical Society)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940. Papers, 1925-1940. New Hampshire Newspaper Project
creatorOf OAC Review Index (University of Guelph). William Richard Graham, B.S.A. 1894, D.Sc 1938, OAC Review, v.51, no.1, Oct. 1938, p.9-11, con't on p.63. University of Guelph. McLaughlin Library
referencedIn Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933. Additional papers, 1841-1940 Houghton Library
referencedIn Carson, Rachel, 1907-1964. Rachel Carson collection, 1940-1972. Johns Hopkins University, Sheridan Libraries and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library
referencedIn Harrison, Ross G. (Ross Granville), 1870-1959. Ross Granville Harrison papers, 1820-1975 (inclusive), 1889-1959 (bulk). Yale University Library
referencedIn Alumni Association (University of Michigan), Individual Photographs, ca. 1880-ca. 1960s Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn James Ford Bell and family papers., 1861-1978. Minnesota Historical Society
referencedIn Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942. Bronislaw Malinowski papers, 1869-1946 (inclusive), 1914-1939 (bulk). Yale University Library
creatorOf Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940. [Collected reprints] Cornell University Library
creatorOf Osborn, Herbert, 1856-1954. Correspondence, 1887-1949. Ohio State University Libraries
creatorOf Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940. Papers, ca. 1895-1940. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Bell, James Ford, 1879-1961. James Ford Bell and family papers, 1861-1961. Minnesota Historical Society Library
referencedIn William B. Provine collection of evolutionary biology reprints, 20th century. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
creatorOf Raymond Pearl Papers, Circa 1895-1940 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942. Bronislaw Malinowski papers, 1869-1946 (inclusive), 1914-1939 (bulk). Yale University Library
referencedIn Journal of Experimental Zoology records 1891-1964 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn Davenport, Charles Benedict, 1866-1944. Charles Benedict Davenport papers, 1874-1944. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Goetz, Ruth Goodman. Papers, 1916-1983. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
creatorOf Henderson, Lawrence Joseph, 1878-1942. Lawrence Joseph Henderson papers, 1907-1942. Harvard Business School, Knowledge and Library Services/Baker Library
creatorOf Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940. Correspondence to Morley Roberts, 1934. University of Pennsylvania Library
creatorOf Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940. Correspondence with Franz Boas, 1917-1935 [microform]. Iowa State University, Parks Library
referencedIn Yerkes, Robert Mearns, 1876-1956. Robert Mearns Yerkes papers, 1822-1985 (inclusive). Yale University Library
referencedIn Jennings, H. S. (Herbert Spencer), 1868-1947. Papers, ca. 1893-1947. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Harrison, Ross G. (Ross Granville), 1870-1959. Ross Granville Harrison papers, 1820-1975 (inclusive), 1889-1959 (bulk). Yale University Library
referencedIn L. C. Dunn Papers, ca. 1920-1974 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Journal of Experimental Zoology records, 1891-1964 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
referencedIn James McKeen Cattell Papers, 1835-1948, (bulk 1896-1948) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Yerkes, Robert Mearns, 1876-1956. Papers, 1822-1985 Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
referencedIn Alexander Woollcott correspondence, ca. 1856-1943 (inclusive), 1920-1943 (bulk). Houghton Library
referencedIn William Bateson: Scientific Correspondence and Papers, 19th - 20th century Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives
referencedIn American Birth Control League records, 1917-1934. Houghton Library
referencedIn George Sarton additional papers, 1901-1956 Houghton Library
referencedIn H. S. (Herbert Spencer) Jennings papers, ca. 1893-1947, Circa 1893-1947 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Jacob Ellsworth Reighard Papers, 1887-1942, 1890-1920 Bentley Historical Library
referencedIn John C. Merriam Papers, 1899-1938 Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Association of Physical Anthropologists. corporateBody
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associatedWith Archbold, Helen person
associatedWith Baltimore Sun corporateBody
associatedWith Bateson, William person
associatedWith Beckwith, Cora J. person
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associatedWith Bell, James F. person
associatedWith Bell, James Ford, 1879-1961. person
associatedWith Benson and Miller person
associatedWith Berkson, Joseph, 1899- . person
associatedWith Bernard, Léon, b. 1877. person
associatedWith Bird, J. Malcolm person
associatedWith Birth Control Federation of America. corporateBody
associatedWith Bliss, Leon D. person
associatedWith Boas, Franz, 1858-1942. person
associatedWith Campbell, James A., 1917-1983. person
associatedWith Carson, Rachel, 1907-1964. person
correspondedWith Cattell, James McKeen, 1860-1944. person
correspondedWith Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933 person
associatedWith Cox, Eugene A. person
associatedWith Cox, Eugene A. person
associatedWith Dartmouth College. corporateBody
associatedWith Davenport, Charles Benedict, 1866-1944. person
associatedWith Dunn, L. C., (Leslie Clarence), 1893-1974 person
associatedWith East, Edward M. (Edward Murray), 1879-1938. person
associatedWith Elsholtz, Johann Sigismund, 1623-1688. person
associatedWith Embree, Edwin R., 1883-1950. person
associatedWith Fisher, Arne. person
associatedWith Gini, Corrado, 1884- person
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associatedWith Goetz, Ruth Goodman. person
associatedWith Greenwood, Major, 1880-. person
associatedWith Halsbed, W. T. person
associatedWith Harris, F. K. person
associatedWith Harrison, Ross G. (Ross Granville), 1870-1959. person
associatedWith Henderson, Lawrence Joseph, 1878-1942. person
associatedWith Inglis, William person
associatedWith International Statistical Institute. corporateBody
associatedWith Jennings, H. S. (Herbert Spencer), 1868-1947. person
associatedWith Johns Hopkins University. corporateBody
associatedWith Jones, Bassett, 1877-1960. person
associatedWith Kaempffert, Waldemar person
associatedWith Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942. person
associatedWith Mallet, Bernard, Sir person
associatedWith Mallet, Bernard, Sir. person
associatedWith Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956. person
correspondedWith Merriam, John C. (John Campbell), 1869-1945. person
associatedWith Morgan, Thomas Hunt, 1866-1845. person
associatedWith Morgan, Thomas Hunt, 1866-1945 person
associatedWith National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. corporateBody
associatedWith OAC Review Index (University of Guelph) corporateBody
associatedWith Osborn, Herbert, 1856-1954. person
associatedWith Parcek, Bertha A. person
associatedWith Pearl, Ida May McDuffee person
associatedWith Pearl, Maud Mary DeWitt person
associatedWith Pearl, Ruth DeWitt person
associatedWith Pearson, Karl, 1857-1936. person
associatedWith Porter, George P. person
correspondedWith Provine, William B. person
associatedWith Reighard, Jacob Ellsworth, 1861-1942 person
associatedWith Ritter, William Emerson, 1856-1944. person
associatedWith Russell, E. S. (Edward Stuart), 1887-1954. person
associatedWith Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966. person
correspondedWith Sarton, George, 1884-1956 person
associatedWith Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, 1879-1962. person
associatedWith Sweeney, James Shirley, 1896- . person
associatedWith The Quarterly Review of Biology. corporateBody
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associatedWith Unidentified person
associatedWith University of Michigan. Alumni Association. corporateBody
associatedWith Van Rensselaer, Alexander person
associatedWith Walcott, Frederic Collin, 1869-1949. person
associatedWith Wheeler, William Morton, 1865-1937. person
associatedWith Willcox, Walter Francis, 1861-1964. person
associatedWith Wilson, Edwin Bidwell, 1879-1964. person
correspondedWith Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943 person
associatedWith Yerkes, Robert Mearns, 1876-1956. person
associatedWith Yule, G. Udny (George Udny), 1871-1951. person
associatedWith Yule, H. R. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Alcoholism
Alcoholism
Anthropologists
Anthropology
Biology
Biology
Biology, genetics, eugenics
Biology publishing
Biometry
Birth control
Culture, community, organizations
Eggs
Eugenics
Evolution (Biology)
Genetics
Human evolution
Longevity
Longevity
Population biology
Poultry
Race, race relations, racism
Science publishing
Social conditions, social advocacy, social reform
Statistics
World War, 1914-1918
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1879-06-03

Death 1940-11-17

Americans

English

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