William Cooper (conchologist)

William Cooper (1798–1864) was an American naturalist, conchologist (shell zoologist) and collector.

William Cooper portrait from "Biographical Sketch of the Late William Cooper of Hudson County, New Jersey" (1864)

Early life

Cooper studied zoology in Europe from 1821 to 1824, and afterwards travelled to Nova Scotia, Kentucky and the Bahamas collecting specimens.

Career

Although he was not an author himself his specimens were of great help to others, such as John James Audubon, Charles Lucien Bonaparte and Thomas Nuttall.

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper was one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History (later the New York Academy of Sciences), and the first American member of the Zoological Society of London. Bonaparte named the Cooper's hawk for him, after Cooper collected a specimen of it in 1828.

Personal life

He was father of James Graham Cooper (1830–1902) a physician and famous naturalist in his own right.