With Robert T. McMaster, Author and Ecologist

Robert McMaster will speak about his new book, the first full-length biography of Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864).  Hitchcock was one of the brightest stars in American science and philosophy in the nineteenth century.

The son of a hatter and farmer of Deerfield, Massachusetts, Hitchcock was expected to pursue a farmer’s life, but early on he developed a “strong relish” for science.  He became a pioneer in paleontology, a minister, the first State Geologist of Massachusetts, and president of Amherst College.  Deeply religious, he sought to reconcile religion and science.