(born Sept. 25, 1866, Lexington, Ky., U.S.—died Dec. 4, 1945, Pasadena, Calif.) U.S. zoologist and geneticist. He received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. As a professor at Columbia University (1904–28) and California Institute of Technology (1928–45), he conducted important research on heredity. Like many of his contemporaries, Morgan found Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection implausible because it could not be tested experimentally, and he objected to Mendelian and chromosome theories, arguing that no single chromosome could carry specific hereditary traits. His opinion changed as a result of his studies of Drosophila. He developed the hypothesis of sex-linked traits. He adopted the term gene and concluded that genes were possibly arranged in a linear fashion on chromosomes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933. Seealso Calvin Blackman Bridges.

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(born 1635, Llanrhymney, Glamorgan, Wales—died Aug. 25, 1688, probably Lawrencefield, Jam.) Welsh buccaneer. In the second Anglo-Dutch War, he commanded buccaneers against the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean. After capturing Puerto Príncipe in Cuba and sacking the city of Portobelo, he set out in 1670 with 36 ships and 2,000 buccaneers to capture the major Spanish colonial city of Panamá, defeated a large Spanish force, and sacked and burned the city. On the return journey, he deserted his followers and took most of the booty. In 1674 he was knighted and sent to Jamaica as deputy governor. An exaggerated account of Morgan's exploits created his popular reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate.

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(born Sept. 25, 1866, Lexington, Ky., U.S.—died Dec. 4, 1945, Pasadena, Calif.) U.S. zoologist and geneticist. He received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. As a professor at Columbia University (1904–28) and California Institute of Technology (1928–45), he conducted important research on heredity. Like many of his contemporaries, Morgan found Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection implausible because it could not be tested experimentally, and he objected to Mendelian and chromosome theories, arguing that no single chromosome could carry specific hereditary traits. His opinion changed as a result of his studies of Drosophila. He developed the hypothesis of sex-linked traits. He adopted the term gene and concluded that genes were possibly arranged in a linear fashion on chromosomes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1933. Seealso Calvin Blackman Bridges.

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(born 1635, Llanrhymney, Glamorgan, Wales—died Aug. 25, 1688, probably Lawrencefield, Jam.) Welsh buccaneer. In the second Anglo-Dutch War, he commanded buccaneers against the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean. After capturing Puerto Príncipe in Cuba and sacking the city of Portobelo, he set out in 1670 with 36 ships and 2,000 buccaneers to capture the major Spanish colonial city of Panamá, defeated a large Spanish force, and sacked and burned the city. On the return journey, he deserted his followers and took most of the booty. In 1674 he was knighted and sent to Jamaica as deputy governor. An exaggerated account of Morgan's exploits created his popular reputation as a bloodthirsty pirate.

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(born Nov. 21, 1818, near Aurora, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 17, 1881, Rochester, N.Y.) U.S. ethnologist and a principal founder of scientific anthropology. Morgan developed a deep interest in the American Indians and in 1846 was eventually adopted by the Seneca. His Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871) was a world survey of kinship systems that sought to establish connections between cultures and particularly to establish the Asiatic origin of the American Indians. This work led to a comprehensive theory of sociocultural evolution, set forth in Ancient Society (1877). He claimed that advances in social organization arose primarily from changes in food production and that society had progressed from a hunting-and-gathering stage (“savagery”) to one of settled agriculture (“barbarism”) to modern “civilization.” This theory, with the related theory that society originated in a state of sexual promiscuity and advanced through various forms of family life before culminating in monogamy, is now obsolete. For many years, however, Morgan was the dean of American anthropology, and his pioneering ideas influenced the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, among others.

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(born June 10, 1735, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 15, 1789, Philadelphia) U.S. medical educator. He studied medicine in Europe before returning to the American colonies to found their first medical school in 1765 at the University of Pennsylvania. As North America's first professor of medicine, he required a liberal education of his students and separated medicine, surgery, and pharmacology into distinct disciplines, policies widely opposed by colonial physicians. He was made head of the army's medical system in 1775; however, the Continental Congress did not let him organize the system and dismissed him in 1777, holding him responsible for the war's high death rate. Though absolved in 1779, he never recovered, and he died an impoverished recluse.

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(born April 17, 1837, Hartford, Conn., U.S.—died March 31, 1913, Rome, Italy) U.S. financier. The son of a financier, he began his career as an accountant in 1857 and became an agent for his father's banking company in 1861. In 1871 he was named a partner in the firm of Drexel, Morgan, which became the chief source of U.S. government financing. In 1895 it became J.P. Morgan and Co. In the 1880s and '90s Morgan reorganized several major railroads, notably the Erie Railroad and the Northern Pacific. He was instrumental in achieving railroad rate stability and discouraging overly chaotic competition, and he became one of the world's most powerful railroad magnates, controlling about 5,000 mi (8,000 km) of railway by 1902. After the panic of 1893, Morgan formed a syndicate to supply the U.S. Treasury's depleted gold reserves. He led the financial community in averting a general financial collapse following the stock-market panic of 1907. He financed a series of giant industrial consolidations, organizing the mergers that formed General Electric, United States Steel Corp., and International Harvester Co. (see Navistar International Corp.). A noted art collector, he donated many artworks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; his book collection and the building that housed it became the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.

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(born 1736, Hunterdon county, N.J.—died July 6, 1802, Winchester, Va., U.S.) American Revolutionary army officer. He was commissioned a captain of the Virginia riflemen and fought under Benedict Arnold in the unsuccessful assault on Quebec (1775). In 1777 he joined Gen. Horatio Gates in the Battle of Saratoga. In 1780 he was made brigadier general and fought in the South, defeating a large British force at Cowpens, S.C. In 1794 he led Virginia militiamen to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.

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Breed of light horse founded by a Vermont horse (foaled 1793, died 1821) named after his owner, Justin Morgan (1747–1797). The “Justin Morgan horse,” a blend of Thoroughbred, Arabian, and other elements, was a compact, heavily muscled, short-legged horse of great style, energy, and endurance. Because he alone founded the breed, he is the world's best example of prepotency (ability to pass one's traits to one's offspring). Modern Morgans are used mostly for riding. They are 14.1–15.2 hands (57–61 in., 145–155 cm) high, weigh 900–1,100 lbs (400–500 kg), and resemble the Arabian in conformation and endurance.

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(born Nov. 21, 1818, near Aurora, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 17, 1881, Rochester, N.Y.) U.S. ethnologist and a principal founder of scientific anthropology. Morgan developed a deep interest in the American Indians and in 1846 was eventually adopted by the Seneca. His Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871) was a world survey of kinship systems that sought to establish connections between cultures and particularly to establish the Asiatic origin of the American Indians. This work led to a comprehensive theory of sociocultural evolution, set forth in Ancient Society (1877). He claimed that advances in social organization arose primarily from changes in food production and that society had progressed from a hunting-and-gathering stage (“savagery”) to one of settled agriculture (“barbarism”) to modern “civilization.” This theory, with the related theory that society originated in a state of sexual promiscuity and advanced through various forms of family life before culminating in monogamy, is now obsolete. For many years, however, Morgan was the dean of American anthropology, and his pioneering ideas influenced the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, among others.

Learn more about Morgan, Lewis Henry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 17, 1837, Hartford, Conn., U.S.—died March 31, 1913, Rome, Italy) U.S. financier. The son of a financier, he began his career as an accountant in 1857 and became an agent for his father's banking company in 1861. In 1871 he was named a partner in the firm of Drexel, Morgan, which became the chief source of U.S. government financing. In 1895 it became J.P. Morgan and Co. In the 1880s and '90s Morgan reorganized several major railroads, notably the Erie Railroad and the Northern Pacific. He was instrumental in achieving railroad rate stability and discouraging overly chaotic competition, and he became one of the world's most powerful railroad magnates, controlling about 5,000 mi (8,000 km) of railway by 1902. After the panic of 1893, Morgan formed a syndicate to supply the U.S. Treasury's depleted gold reserves. He led the financial community in averting a general financial collapse following the stock-market panic of 1907. He financed a series of giant industrial consolidations, organizing the mergers that formed General Electric, United States Steel Corp., and International Harvester Co. (see Navistar International Corp.). A noted art collector, he donated many artworks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; his book collection and the building that housed it became the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.

Learn more about Morgan, J(ohn) P(ierpont) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 10, 1735, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 15, 1789, Philadelphia) U.S. medical educator. He studied medicine in Europe before returning to the American colonies to found their first medical school in 1765 at the University of Pennsylvania. As North America's first professor of medicine, he required a liberal education of his students and separated medicine, surgery, and pharmacology into distinct disciplines, policies widely opposed by colonial physicians. He was made head of the army's medical system in 1775; however, the Continental Congress did not let him organize the system and dismissed him in 1777, holding him responsible for the war's high death rate. Though absolved in 1779, he never recovered, and he died an impoverished recluse.

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(born Jan. 1, 1879, London, Eng.—died June 7, 1970, Coventry, Warwickshire) British writer. Forster was born into an upper-middle-class family. He attended the University of Cambridge and from roughly 1907 was a member of the informal Bloomsbury group. His early works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), and his first major success, Howards End (1910), novels that show his acute observation of middle-class life and its values. After periods in India and Alexandria, he wrote his finest novel, A Passage to India (1924), examining the failure of human understanding between ethnic and social groups under British rule. Maurice, a novel with a homosexual theme written in 1913, appeared posthumously. Aspects of the Novel (1927) is a classic discussion of aesthetics and the creative process. Awarded an honorary fellowship in 1946 at Cambridge, he lived there until his death.

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(born 1736, Hunterdon county, N.J.—died July 6, 1802, Winchester, Va., U.S.) American Revolutionary army officer. He was commissioned a captain of the Virginia riflemen and fought under Benedict Arnold in the unsuccessful assault on Quebec (1775). In 1777 he joined Gen. Horatio Gates in the Battle of Saratoga. In 1780 he was made brigadier general and fought in the South, defeating a large British force at Cowpens, S.C. In 1794 he led Virginia militiamen to help suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.

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Morgan "Bill" Evans (b. June 10, 1910 d. August 16, 2002) was a horticulturalist who guided the landscape design of Disney theme parks for half a century. He most notably transformed the landscape of 80 acres of forest in Anaheim, California to create Disneyland.

Early Life

Evans was born in Santa Monica, California, where he learned botany on his father, a second-generation horticulturalist. He joined the Merchant Marine in 1928 and traveled around the world on the SS President Harrison, gathering seeds for his father's garden from the countries he visited.

After returning from duty, Evans studied at Pasadena City College and then at Stanford, majoring in geology. He left school early in 1931 because of the Great Depression, and returned home to tranform his father's garden into a nursery business selling rare and exotic plants to the Hollywood elite. One of his customers was Walt Disney, who asked Evans to landscape the grounds of his Holmby Hills home and surrounding gardens. Disney was impressed by Evan's skill and invited Evans and his brother, Jack, to landscape what would become Disneyland.

Landscaping Disneyland

In less than a year, Evans had transformed 80 acres of Anaheim orange groves into lush theme park attractions filled with exotic plants. One of the prominent pieces of the projects was landscaping the Jungle Cruise ride along the path of an artificial river, which Disney insisted be "the best darn jungle this side of Costa Rica. This section of the park included a canopy of bamboo, palms, and ficus trees towering 70 feet tall. To create the appearance of exotic jungle branches, Evans planted orange trees upside down to give the appearance that their gnarled roots were branches.

Later work with Disney

After Disneyland opened in July of 1955, Evans stayed on with Disney, working as a landscape planner, consultant, and maintenance supervisor at the park. Disney made him the director of landscape architecture. His projects in this capacity included working on Disneyland editions, Walt Disney World and EPCOT Center.

Evans retired from Disney in 1975, but continued his work for Disney with the landcape design of Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Hong Kong, Disneyland Paris, and additions in Walt Disney World such as The Polynesian Resort, Discovery Island, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom.

Personal Life

Evans married Natalie Evans, and had two sons along with her two stepdaughters. Aside from his work at Disney, Evans was also a writer for Sunset magazine, a trustee for the Los Angeles County Arboretum, and a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Death and Legacy

Evans died at age 92 in Malibu, California. The cause of death was not reported.

Evans was awarded the ASLA Medal by the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2002, after he died, in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the profession of landscape architecture.

References