What do George Cuvier, Charles Darwin, Frank Zappa, Darth Vader, and The Three Stooges all have in common? They – and a vast number of other people, both real and fictional – are the eponymous inspiration for the taxonomic names of a species somewhere on the planet. The stories behind some of these naming choices are as fascinating as others are entertaining, while still more are simply comical or even downright absurd.
Prof. Stephen B. Heard has spent a remarkable amount of time and effort reviewing a wide selection of the fascinating as well as the farsical among catalogs of scientific names, and has now collected the stories he has uncovered in his new book Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider; How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels from Yale University Press.
As one who has long been intrigued by the history, growth, and development of the Linnean system of taxonomic classification, I have been very eager to read Prof. Heard’s new book since the first rumors of it came my way. Now that a copy has reached my desk, I am wasting no time reacquainting myself with some of the naming histories I have long known as well as delighting in the discovery of a wealth of others that are entirely new to me.
