FIRST LIMNOLOGY COURSE IN NORTH AMERICA FROM 1910 TO 2023 AT UW-MADISON: WHAT CHANGED? WHAT STAYED THE SAME?

E. A. Birge began limnology in North America. He hired C. Juday who started a Limnology course in 1910. What made it a limnology instead of freshwater biology is that it covered physics, chemistry, and biology. Teachers were Juday (33 years), Hasler (37 years), Magnuson (32 years), Frost (17 years), Emily Stanley (18 years), and VanderZanden (17 years). Juday’s lectures devoted 40% to physics and 40% to plankton biology. Hasler renamed the course “Limnology, the Conservation of Aquatic Resources.” He cut lectures on physics and chemistry by 50% and included bacteria, fungi, fish, as well as applied issues of eutrophication and fisheries. Magnuson and Frost added more issues such as acid rain and invasive species and a systems view. They added 3 sections of a new lab course that included sampling at Trout Lake Station, streams near Madison. Lecture students got to sample Lake Mendota and the Lake Wingra watershed. E. Stanley and VanderZanden redesigned the course from scratch but again it covered physics, chemistry, biology, and applied topics and an ecosystem view. Initially, most were male graduate students; later most were undergraduate juniors and seniors. Males dominated through the 1950s; by the 1990s 50 to 55% were women. In the 1960’s the number of students increased exponentially to about 210 students but declined in the 1970s only to again increase in the late 1980s and 1990s. This is the largest Limnology course anywhere. Hasler encouraged us to design an introductory course that anyone, regardless of major, would benefit and contribute to the Wisconsin idea.

Primary Presenter: John Magnuson, University of Wisconsin-Madison (johnjosephmagnuson@gmail.com)

Authors:

Stephen Allen, Unknown  (john.magnuson@wisc.edu)