Naturalist and physician, Dr. Augustus Addison Gould (1805 – 1866) was a pioneer of American conchology (the study of shells), and one of the first authorities on the invertebrate animals of New England. Born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, as a teen he managed the family farm before entering Harvard College in 1821. Here his interest in natural history was nurtured with Gould familiarizing himself with native plants, for which he maintained a lifelong passion.

Graduating with a medical degree in 1830, Gould undertook a series of positions to support himself including cataloguing and classifying fifty thousand pamphlets in the library of the Boston Athenaeum. He taught botany and zoology at Harvard for two years, becoming a member of the Boston Society of Natural History soon after its founding.

One of Massachusetts’ leading medical men, Gould became a specialist in the study of mollusks, publishing many works on crustaceans and insects. His most important publication, the Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts (1841), greatly encouraged the study of mollusks in the United States. He was coauthor of Principles of Zoology (1848) with naturalist Louis Agassiz.