A Tribute To Charles Henry Turner

Frost Valley Celebrates Black History Month With Tribute To Scientist Charles Henry Turner

02/10/2022

In celebration of Black History Month, we’re taking time at Frost Valley to celebrate some of the Black scientists who have changed the course of environmental science. As we move through the month—enjoying recent snowfalls, working on new projects in our program village, and clipping into cross country skis—we want to understand how the work of these Black scientists affects our everyday lives.

We think about George Washington Carver and his work in sustainable agriculture as we drive past fertile farmland; we think about Marie Maynard Daly and her work in nutrition science with each bite of food we take; and we think about Mae C. Jemison and her mission on the Space Shuttle Endeavor as we gaze at the glittering night sky.

But there’s one Black scientist in particular who has captured our attention this month—a scientist who inspires us to continue teaching environmental science on our trails rather than in a classroom; a scientist who makes us want to understand not just the discoveries he made, but the questions he asked—Charles Henry Turner.

Turner began his career in science in the same way that we begin many of our own classes at Frost Valley: by looking around outside. As a young student, he became fascinated with bugs. He watched them crawl past his feet and fly over his head. Their busy lives and odd habits tickled him with questions. The more he watched them, the more his curiosity grew. He read books and talked with teachers, seeking answers about these small creatures; but, his curiosity only grew larger.

He finished high school as the valedictorian, and his interest led him to complete a bachelor’s degree in biology, a master’s degree in biology, and finally a PhD in zoology—becoming the first Black American to have such a degree. All the while, as his studies grew from simple questions to doctoral theses, he continued watching bugs.

Turner wondered not just what the bugs were doing, but how they were doing it: did they complete tasks with robotic instincts or were they thinking and learning? With this daring question, Turner connected psychology and entomology in a way no one had done before to study insect behavior. Unfortunately, while other ground-breaking doctoral students had access to exquisite labs and fancy equipment that helped them study complex questions, Turner wasn’t given the same resources.

As a Black man in post-Civil War America, Turner was confronted by the racism that gripped the country. He was one of only a few Black scientists in America at the time. In a world in which many schools were segregated and Black people weren’t allowed to eat at the same table as white people, scientists were doubtful of Turner’s work and reluctant to invite him into white-dominated spaces. Despite the blatant discrimination and lack of access to a lab, Turner’s scientific curiosity couldn’t be stopped. Instead, he brought his research to the heart of natural science: the outdoors.

Turner followed spiders, ants, honey bees, moths, and cockroaches. He took notes on their behavior, drew maps of where they went, set up obstacles to see how they reacted, and watched them as they performed their daily tasks again and again. Over time, Turner was able to isolate variables and perform tests, all while nestled in the park with all the insects he could find.

These simple moments of observation made Turner stand out: the moments he spent crouched in a bush watching butterflies find a place to land, the time he spent following ants as they journeyed back to their nests, and the days he spent watching spiders rebuild their webs. For Turner, science didn’t start with facts and lessons, it started with noticing.

The power of observation is a skill we practice with all of the students who join us at Frost Valley for environmental education field trips. We encourage our students to look closely as we move patiently along our trails. In the beginning they might not notice anything they haven’t seen before, but after some practice, something will catch their eye: a beaver-chewed stick, a mushroom on a log, a delicate sapling, or a bright fuzzy caterpillar. It’s in that special moment, when curiosity takes hold, that our exploration begins and our students become scientists.

Turner’s curiosity and observations led him to many discoveries. He learned that spiders don’t automatically rebuild a web each time it is destroyed; instead, they consider the best design for their webs before building it. He found that moths aren’t deaf; in fact, they learn behaviors from the different sounds they hear. He discovered that ants don’t wander aimlessly back to their nest; rather, they use landmarks to navigate. And he was the first to begin to understand the way that honey bees see patterns and colors that the human eye cannot see, which they use to find nectar in flowers.

Despite the significance of Turner’s work, he was given little credit. Though Karl von Frisch didn’t study color vision in honey bees until four years after Turner, he was awarded a nobel prize for being the first scientist to discover that honey bees can see in color. Some argue that Frisch’s work was more scientifically sound since he more carefully isolated the variable of color; others argue that, since Turner wasn’t allowed to use the tools and resources that credited scientists typically used, his lack of recognition is yet another compounding of the discrimination he faced.

Though both Turner and the insects he studied were often overlooked, Turner’s work still continues to inspire the field of natural science. Turner took a chance on our small and often underestimated insect friends when others didn’t. It wasn’t that he knew before he started his experiment that the insects he studied were capable of mastery and learning; but he was willing to wonder what was possible.

We want to honor Turner’s work this month, as a reminder that science isn’t about labs, or tools, or prizes: it’s about curiosity, about looking closer at what is in front of us, and about using our imagination to question the things around us which we can’t yet see. His work inspires us to continue bringing our students outside and onto our trails, where their curiosity can have space to unfold. To all of the young Black scientists of the world: we encourage you, we congratulate you, and we honor you. 

Thank you Tyler Katz for the beautiful photos of insects at Frost Valley!