Home > Charles Frédéric Girard

Born in Mulhouse, France, he studied at the College of Neuchâtel, Switzerland as a student of Louis Agassiz. In 1847, he accompagnied Agassiz as his assistant to Harvard. Three years later, Spencer Fullerton Baird called him to the Smithsonian to work on its growing collection of North American reptileCrocodilia Crocodilians Rhynchocephalia Tuataras Squamata Suborder Sauria Lizards Suborder Serpentes Snakes Testudines Turtles Superorder Dinosauria Saurischia Ornithischia The reptiles are a group of vertebrate animals. Most reptiles are tetrapods, and ts and fishAtlantic herring, Clupea harengus one of the most abundant species in the world Photo A fish is a poikilothermic (cold-blooded) water-dwelling vertebrate with gills. There are over 27,000 species of fish, making them the most diverse group of vertebrates.es. He worked at the museum for the next ten years and published numerous papers, many in collaboration with Baird.

In 1854Events January 13 The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas. February 11 Major streets lit by coal gas for first time. February 14 Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas i, he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Besides his work at the Smithsonian, he managed to earn an M.D. from Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University Motto Collegium Georgiopolitanum ad ripas Potomaci in Marylandia ("Georgetown College on the banks of the Potomac in Maryland") Established January 23, 1789 School type Private, Jesuit President John J. DeGioia Location Washington, D in Washington, D.C. in 1856. 1859 he returned to France and was awarded the Cuvier Prize by the Institute of France for his work on the North American reptiles and fishes two years later.

When the American Civil War broke out, he joined the Confederates as an agent for surgical and medical supplies. After the war, he remained in France and started a medical career. During the Franco-Prussian War he served as a military physician and published an important paper on the typhoid fever after the Siege of Paris . He remained active as a medical doctor until ca. 1888. In the following three years, he published a few more papers on natural history.

He retired in 1891 and spent the rest of his life in Neulilly-sur-Seine, France, where he died in 1895.