Alpheus Spring Packard, known as "Alpha" as a youngster, was born in 1839 in Brunswick Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1861, and after following an academically rich path and serving as assistant surgeon of the First Maine Veteran Volunteers during the Civil War, he came to Brown in 1878. He served as the professor of zoology and geology, and was an early champion of Darwin and evolution.
In 1872 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He gained international recognition in his field, as evidenced by his election in 1872 to the Imperial Zoological-Botanical Society of Vienna, in 1875 to the Société Royale des Sciences de Liègge, Belgium, in 1891 to the Society of Friends of Natural Science of Moscow, and in 1901 to the Linnaen Society of London. In 1899 he was named honorary president of the Zoological Congress in Paris. He died of blood poisoning on February 14, 1905 in Providence.
We get an insight into the classroom experience with Professor Packard through Robert Cushman Murphy, Class of 1911, who had heard of his lectures that were
"fascinating to even the crassest of undergraduates...Year after year he would set down the same questions for the written tests. His colleagues took him to task for being naive in relation to the students. ‘They all come in knowing exactly what to expect,’ protested his Faculty friends. ‘Never mind,’ countered Professor Packard, ‘I may ask the same questions, but each year I change the answers.’ So it is evident that he kept up with the growth of science!”
Another person, identified only as “One who knew Packard intimately,” was quoted in Bios, the journal of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Fraternity,
"His forehead was like Darwin’s bust, rather low immediately above his eyebrows, then rising again high and broad. His head was broad above the ears. The play of expression in his gray eyes varied from a very sad and pathetic one to sparkling humor. He was tall, very slight, quick and nervous. He usually sprang up-stairs, three at a time. He had small and shapely hands and feet. He dressed immaculately, and carried himself gracefully. He liked to dance about in playing with his children."
Professor Alpheus Packard's recitation room, photographed by Charles Cook, 1884-8
The information on this page is indebted to the Encyclopedia Brunoniana by Martha Mitchell, copyright ©1993 by the Brown University Library.
