English naturalist and popularizer of natural science, virtually the inventor of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of marine biology. The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian England by Gosse who created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and coined the term "aquarium" when he published the first manual, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea, in 1854.
Gosse was also the author of Omphalos, an attempt to reconcile the geological ages presupposed by Charles Lyell with the biblical account of creation. After his death, Gosse was portrayed as a despotic father of uncompromising religious views in Father and Son (1907), a memoir written by his son, the poet and critic Edmund Gosse.
Refs:
The Early History of Artificial Seawater for Aquarists by Al Klee
Works by Gosse:
The Canadian Naturalist: a series of conversations on the natural history of Lower Canada (1840).
An Introduction to Zoology (1844).
The Ocean (1844), edition of 1874 under the title ''The Wonders of the Great Deep; or, the physical, animal, geological and vegetable curiosities of the ocean.
The Birds of Jamaica (1847)
The Monuments of Ancient Egypt, and their relation to the Word of God (1847).
Natural History. Mammalia (1848).
Popular British Ornithology; containing a familiar and technical description of the Birds of the British Isles (1849).
Illustrations of the Birds of Jamaica (1849).
Natural History. Birds (1849).
Sacred streams: The Ancient and Modern History of the Rivers of the Bible (1850).
Natural History. Reptiles (1850).
A Naturalist’s Sojourn in Jamaica (1851).
Natural History. Fishes (1851).
The History of the Jews, from the Christian era to the dawn of the Reformation (1851).
A Text-book of Zoology for schools (1851).
Assyria: her manners and customs, arts and aims. Restored from the monuments (1852).
A Naturalist's Rambles on the Devonshire Coast (1853).
The Aquarium: an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea (1854).
(1854).
containing Instructions for constructing, stocking, and maintaining a tank, and for collecting plants and animals (1855).
(1855–1856).
Tenby: a seaside holiday (1856).
A Memorial of the Last Days on Earth of Emily Gosse. (1857)
Omphalos: an attempt to untie the geological knot. (1857), modern editions in 1998 and 2003.
Life in its Lower, Intermediate, and Higher Forms]; or, manifestations of the divine wisdom in the natural history of animals (1857).
Actinologia Britannica]: a history of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals. (1858–60).
Evenings at the Microscope or, researches among the minute organs and forms of animal life'' (1859).
Letters from Alabama, chiefly relating to Natural History (1859).
The Romance of Natural History (1860–61).
A Year at the Shore (1865).
Land and Sea'' (1865).
The Revelation. How is it to be interpreted ? (1866).
Imperial Bible-Dictionary (104 articles) (1866)
The Mysteries of God writings on mythology (1884).
Otto Gartner died in 2018. Aquarists know him from his very readable reports about West African fish and plants, and a special issue dedicated to his contributions in crinum and anbias was recently published. The kilifish was named for him.
