He studied under the great naturalist Louis Agassiz . He focused most of his studies on marine biology , particularly invertebrates . Starting when he was 21 years old , from 1853 to 1856 , he collected various specimens in the Pacific Northwest . He then settled in Washington , D.C. , where he founded the Megatherium Club at the Smithsonian Institution . At the Smithsonian , he was named the director of the department of invertebrates . When fellow club member Robert Kennicott left his post as director of the Academy of Science in Chicago , Stimpson went to that city to take his place . There he gathered one of the most extensive natural history collections in the United States . The academy was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ( later rebuilt ) , and almost all of Stimpson 's works and specimens were lost . He died the following year of tuberculosis in Ilchester , Maryland )
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
William Stimpson