Ralph Buchsbaum

Ralph Morris Buchsbaum (January 2, 1907 – February 11, 2002) was an American zoologist, invertebrate biologist, and ecologist. His book Animals Without Backbones, first published in 1938, was the first textbook in biology to be reviewed by Time and featured in Life. and is still in print, and has been widely used as a textbook. It was still being used as of 2013.

Due to his 1938 book, Buchsbaum became known as a popularizer of science. In 1952 he founded the Boxwood Press, which published his own and others' science books. He also made a series of 29 educational films on biology for the Encyclopædia Britannica, and visited Thailand, Ecuador, Ghana, and India, where he helped develop educational curricula in biology.

Personal life and career Buchsbaum was born in 1907, in Chickasha, Indian Territory, now part of Oklahoma. He earned his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1932 and continued there as a faculty member until 1950, when he moved to the University of Pittsburgh. He received the Quantrell Award.

Buchsbaum married Mildred Shaffer (University of Chicago SB 1932, SM 1933). She was a research assistant who worked on anti-leukemia drugs.

Works Books Ralph Buchsbaum wrote or co-wrote at least fourteen books., The third edition combined the two volumes. Vicki Pearse & John Pearse were added as co-authors along with Mildred Buchsbaum. Some illustrations were modified by Mildred Waldtrip. The text was extensively revised to reflect recent research and the bibliography was updated. (Third edition, University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London, 1987. 572 pages. Cloth , paperback .) Balance in Nature with Bertha Parker (1941), Row, Peterson and Co. Basic Ecology with Mildred Buchsbaum (1957), Boxwood Press, Pacific Grove, CA The life in the sea (Condon lectures) (1958), Oregon State System of Higher Education The Lower Animals with Mildred Buchsbaum Epstein, S.; Buchsbaum, R.; Lowenstam, H.A.; Urey, H.C. Carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. April 1951, v. 62, no. 4, 417–426. (Full text) Epstein, S.; Buchsbaum, R.; Lowenstam, H.A.; Urey, H.C. Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 1953, 64, 1315–1325.

Books published by Boxwood Press Boxwood published many titles in biology and natural history, as well as in history, biography, and other subject areas. They include these: Reproduction of Marine Invertebrates, Acmaeidae, Spionidae, Abalone: Gross and Fine Structure Hydra and the Birth of Experimental Biology Bird Year Elephant Seals Woody Plants in Winter Tom Beveridge's Ozarks by Thomas L. Beveridge (1979) Monterey Bay Area: Natural History and Cultural Imprints Año Nuevo, A Panama Forest and Shore