Henry Weed Fowler

Henry Weed Fowler (March 23, 1878 – June 21, 1965) was an American zoologist born in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania.^[1][2]

He studied at Stanford University under David Starr Jordan. He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and worked as an assistant from 1903 to 1922, associate curator of vertebrates from 1922 to 1934, curator of fish and reptiles from 1934 to 1940 and curator of fish from 1940 to 1965.^[2]

He published material on numerous topics including crustaceans, birds, reptiles and amphibians, but his most important work was on fish. In 1927 he co-founded the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and acted as treasurer until the end of 1927.^[1][2]

In 1934, he went to Cuba, alongside Charles Cadwalader (president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia), at the invitation of Ernest Hemingway to study billfishes, he stayed with Hemingway for six weeks and the three men developed a friendship which continued after this trip and Hemingway sent specimens to, and corresponded with, both Fowler and Cadwalader afterwards. Fowler named the spinycheek scorpionfish (Neomerithe hemingwayi) in honor of the author. Hemingway learnt a lot about marine life from his two guests, much of which he was said to have used in The Old Man and the Sea.^[3]

From 1936–1937, he took part in an expedition to Bolivia.

He died in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.