Thomas Say: An Exceptional American Naturalist

Thomas Say (1787–1834), a native Philadelphian, led a brief yet extraordinary life marked by adventure, intellectual curiosity, and scientific achievement. A founding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1812, Say participated in the Academy’s 1817 expedition to Florida and later joined Major Stephen Long’s 1819 journey to the Rocky Mountains. In 1825, he aligned himself with social reformer Robert Owen in the ambitious, though short-lived, experiment to establish a utopian community in New Harmony, Indiana. It was there that Say married and soon embarked on another scientific expedition, this time to Mexico.

Say’s legacy lies in his foundational contributions to American taxonomy. He described over 1,500 insect species, more than 100 mollusks, and numerous other animals, including the coyote, which still bears the scientific name Canis latrans that Say assigned. Though he likely never set foot in Maryland, Say published the first formal treatise on the state’s fossil shells in 1824, demonstrating his wide-ranging influence.

Remarkably, Say had only three years of formal education. A self-taught naturalist, he cultivated his expertise through observation, correspondence, and relentless study. The presentation will conclude by exploring how Say educated himself and speculating on his broader views of the natural world—topics on which, intriguingly, he left little written record.

 A native of Turkey, Aydin Orstan has a Ph.D. in chemistry, but his first love is natural history. He is a research associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, but conducts research work in the basement of his house in Maryland. Link to research:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aydin-Oerstan/research.