Ada Watterson Yerkes

Ada Watterson Yerkes (November 6, 1873 – October 16, 1963) was an American biologist. Although she was trained as a botanist, she is best known for her work in primatology, with her husband, psychologist Robert Yerkes.

Early life and education Watterson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Robert Frank Watterson and Carrie Theresa Norton Watterson. Her ancestors were among the early white settlers in the Western Reserve section of Ohio. Her father was an American Civil War veteran who died in 1879. She graduated from Barnard College in 1898, and earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1900. She took a summer course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Career Watterson taught biology at Barnard College from 1899 to 1902, and tutored biology students at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1902 to 1905. She conducted and published her own research after marriage, and worked with her husband on several major projects, especially their co-authored book, The Great Apes: A Study of Anthropoid Life (1929).

Publications "The Effect of Chemical Irritation on the Respiration of Fungi" (1904) "Modifiability of behavior in Hydroides dianthus V" (1906) "Mind in Plants" (1914) "Comparison of the behavior of stock and inbred albino rats" (1916) The Great Apes: A Study of Anthropoid Life (1929, with Robert M. Yerkes) "Experiments with an Infant Chimpanzee" (1935) Family Matters (1941, a history of her family) Her husband died in 1956, and she died in 1963, at the age of 89, in New Haven, Connecticut. The Ada Watterson Yerkes Family Papers are in the collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society. Robert Yerkes' papers at Yale University also contain her diaries and other relevant materials.