Richard Rathbun

Richard Rathbun (January 25, 1852 – July 16, 1918) was an American biologist and administrator at the Smithsonian Institution.

Biography Richard Rathbun was born in Buffalo, New York, to Charles Rathbun and his wife Marey (née Furey). He was schooled in Buffalo before joining his father's quarrying company, Whitmore and Rathbun, for four years. He was fascinated by fossils, and soon amassed a large collection. When he offered it to the Buffalo Society of Natural History, they decided to appoint him curator, and this marked the beginning of Richard's scientific career. He was survived by his wife and their only child, the architect Seward Hume Rathbun.

Around 1898, Rathbun, in his position as assistant secretary to the Smithsonian Institution, received a letter from the then-unknown Wilbur Wright requesting information. Rathbun sent him a number of works on aerodynamics, and an invoice for one dollar, which Wilbur promptly paid. Octave Chanute later called this event "the most important exchange of correspondence in the history of the Smithsonian". Orville Wright later stated that this large package from the Smithsonian enabled him and his brother to solve a problem of balance that had caused most previous attempts at heavier-than-air flight to fail.

Other species in which Rathbun is honored in their binomial include:

† = extinct