George Suckley

George Suckley (1830–1869) was an American physician and naturalist notable as an explorer of the Washington and Oregon territories in the 1850s, and describer of several new fish species.

Life

He was born in New York City, studied at the College of Physicians and Surgeons (today Columbia University), received an M.D. in 1851, and subsequently served as surgeon at New York Hospital.

In April 1853 Suckley was appointed assistant surgeon and naturalist to the Pacific Railroad Survey led by Isaac Stevens. Initially commissioned as a surgeon with the U.S. Army, Suckley resigned in 1856 to pursue natural history full-time resulting in the publication of several works on the natural history of the Pacific Northwest.

Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Suckley rejoined the Army and worked as a surgeon throughout the war. He died in New York City a few years after the war.

Two fish species, Squalus suckleyi Girard 1855, and Catostomus sucklii Girard 1856, and the bumblebee Bombus suckleyi are named after George Suckley.

In 1856, American botanist A.Gray published Suckleya, a genus of flowering plants from America belonging to the family Amaranthaceae, which were named in George Suckley's honor.

Works

(with James Graham Cooper) Natural History of Washington Territory (1859)

References

^ "George Suckley", Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library of Columbia University
^ "Major George Suckley, ca. 1862", University of Washington
^ Green, J. W. 1860. Review of the American Bombidae, together with a Description of several Species heretofe undescribed, being a Synopsis of the species of this family of Hymenopterous Insects thus far known to inhabit North America. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 7:168–176.
^ "Suckleya A.Gray | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 14 May 2021.