Author Jordan David Starr

David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist (the study of fish), educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University. Jordan was born in Gainesville, New York, and studied at Cornell University, Butler University, and the Indiana University School of Medicine.[1] In 1885, he was named President of Indiana University, becoming the nation's youngest university president at age 34.[1] In 1891, he became president of Stanford, serving there as president until 1913 and chancellor until his retirement in 1916.[1] Although highly regarded as an ichthyologist, Jordan was best known for being a peace activist. He argued that war was detrimental to the human species because it removed the strongest organisms from the gene pool. Jordan was president of the World Peace Foundation from 1910 to 1914 and president of the World Peace Conference in 1915, and opposed U.S. involvement in World War