Alcide d’Orbigny and American micropaleontology

Alcide d’Orbigny’s foraminiferal work appeared almost 100 years before serious studies of Foraminifera began in America. Americans both under- and well-appreciated d’Orbigny, but he was rejected by the British, who believed most Foraminifera were variations on a few long-lived types. The American pioneer J.A. Cushman mostly ignored d’Orbigny, but Galloway and Loeblich and Tappan praised d’Orbigny and recognized more of his genera than previous workers. In America, d’Orbigny-type models of Foraminifera became an effective teaching tool. Americans now consider d’Orbigny as the ‘father of micropaleontology’ for his descriptive and geologic studies that were so influential in starting the comprehensive study of Foraminifera.