Asa Fitch
{{Short description|American entomologist (1809–1879)}}
{{For |the member of the 12th Congress|Asa Fitch (politician)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Asa Fitch
| image = Fitch Asa 1809-1879.jpg
| image_size = 200px
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1809|02|24}}
| birth_place = Salem, New York
| death_date = {{death date and age|1879|04|08|1809|02|24}}
| death_place = Salem, New York
| field = Entomology
| work_institutions = New York State Agricultural Society
| alma_mater = Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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| footnotes =
| signature = Signature of Asa Fitch (1809–1879).png
}}
Asa Fitch (February 24, 1809 – April 8, 1879) was a natural historian and entomologist from Salem, New York.
Biography
Asa Fitch was born at Fitch's Point, Salem, New York on February 24, 1809.{{Cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealogi1903gree/page/n340/mode/1up |title=Asa Fitch and His Ancestry |first=Abbie M. |last=Fitch-Andrews |journal=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |volume=XXXIV |number=3 |page=155 |date=July 1903 |access-date=2023-08-23 |via=Internet Archive}} His early studies were of both natural history and medicine, which he studied at the newly formed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1827. However, in 1838 he decided to start studying agriculture and entomology. In 1838 he began to collect and study insects for New York state. In 1854 he became the first professional entomologist of New York State Agricultural Society (commissioned by the State of New York). This made him the first occupational entomologist in the United States.
His vast studies of many insects helped scientists to solve some of the problems of crop damage caused by insects. Many of his notebooks are now the property of the Smithsonian Institution. Fitch also discovered the rodent botfly Cuterebra emasculator in 1856. He died April 8, 1879, at his home in Salem, New York.{{Cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPASAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA163 |title=Notice of Dr. Asa Fitch |journal=Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society |volume=XXXIII |page=163 |date=1884 |access-date=2023-08-23 |via=Google Books}}
The Martin–Fitch House and Asa Fitch Jr. Laboratory was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/listings/20140620.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=2014-06-20|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 6/09/14 through 6/13/14 |publisher=National Park Services}}
References
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Further reading
- {{DSB
|first=Rezneck
|last=Samuel
|title=Fitch, Asa
|volume=5
|pages=11-12
}}
External links
- [http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/FARU7124.htm Asa Fitch Notebooks, circa 1827,1872] from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050903145255/http://www.salem-ny.com/histh13.html Salem New York Historical Site]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050404141128/http://rpi.edu/about/hof/fitch.html RPI Alumni Hall of Fame]
- [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0215 Asa Fitch papers (MS 215). Manuscripts and Archives], Yale University Library.
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Category:American entomologists
Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
Category:Zoologists with author abbreviations