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{{Short description|American zoologist and explorer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Malcolm Playfair Anderson
| image = Malcolm Playfair Anderson.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date| 1879| 04| 06}}
| birth_place = [[Irvington Historic District (Indianapolis, Indiana)|Irvington, Indiana]], US
| death_date = {{death date and age|1919|02|21|1879|04|06}}
| death_place = [[Oakland]], California, US
| resting_place = [[Chapel of the Chimes (Oakland, California)]]
| field = [[Zoology]]
| known_for = [[Scientific collection]]}}

'''Malcolm Playfair Anderson''' (6 April 1879 – 21 February 1919) was an American zoologist and explorer. Anderson took part in several scientific expeditions, and was chosen in 1904 to lead the [[Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford|Duke of Bedford]]'s Exploration of Eastern Asia.

==Early life==
Anderson was born 6 April 1879 in [[Irvington Historic District (Indianapolis, Indiana)|Irvington, Indiana]] as the son of Melville Best Anderson and his wife Charlena (née van Vleck).<ref name="Anderson 1919">{{cite journal|last=Anderson| first=Melville B.|year=1919| title=Malcolm Playfair Anderson| journal=The Condor|volume=21| issue=3| pages=115–119| url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v021n03/p0115-p0119.pdf| doi=10.2307/1362461| jstor=1362461}}</ref>
Anderson was one of his parents' two children who survived to adulthood; the other was a younger brother, Robert van Vleck Anderson.<ref name="Stanford"/>
From ages eleven to fifteen, Anderson attended school in Germany.
Upon returning to the United States, Anderson attended [[Stanford University]], graduating in 1904<ref name="Anderson 1919"/> with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[zoology]].<ref name="BA">{{cite news|url=https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19040518-01.2.11&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------#|work=The Stanford Daily|date=18 May 1904| volume= 24| issue=87|access-date=3 September 2018| title=Bachelor of Arts}}</ref>

Beginning at age 15, Anderson took part in collecting expeditions, befriending scientists and academics such as [[Ray Lyman Wilbur]].
Before completing his degree, he had already undertaken thousands of miles' worth of scientific expeditions, traversing Arizona, California, and Alaska.<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>

==Career==
In 1904, Anderson was chosen by the [[Zoological Society of London]] to be the leader of [[Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford|Duke of Bedford]]'s Exploration of Eastern Asia.
While his personal interest was mostly in [[ornithology|the study of birds]], his role in the expedition was to procure new mammal specimens.<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>
The Exploration began in July 1904 in [[Yokohama]], Japan.<ref name="Thomas 1905">{{cite journal|last1=Thomas| first= O.| year=1906| title= The Duke of Bedford's zoological exploration in eastern Asia I. List of mammals obtained by Mr. MP Anderson in Japan| journal=Proc. Zool. Soc. London| volume= 1905| pages= 331–363| url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31888064}}</ref>
From 1904 to 1907, Anderson traveled through Japan, eastern China, and Korea.

In 1908, he took a break from scientific collecting, traveling Europe with his mother Charlena.<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>
The second leg of the expedition began in [[Wuhan]] on 5 October 1909 and ended in [[Shanghai]] on 13 September 1910.<ref name="Troelstra 2017">{{cite book| title=Bibliography of Natural History Travel Narratives|last=Troelstra| first= A. S.| year=2017| publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004343788| page=240}}</ref>
In total, the Bedford Exploration of Eastern Asia collected over 2,700 individual mammals, resulting in many newly-described species.<ref name="Thomas 1911"/>
Anderson collected the [[holotype]]s of several species, including the [[Shinto shrew]] and [[Japanese red-backed vole]].<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>

After completing the Exploration of Eastern Asia, Andersoon took two collecting trips to [[South America]].
The first trip was with [[Wilfred Hudson Osgood]] and the second was with his wife, Mary Elizabeth.<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>

In 1911, British zoologist [[Oldfield Thomas]] wrote: "to our great loss and regret Mr Anderson now proposes to give up the arduous life of the field collector."<ref name="Thomas 1911">{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1912.tb07008.x|title=The Duke of Bedford's Zoological Exploration of Eastern Asia.-XV. On Mammals from the Provinces of Szechwan and Yunnah, Western China|journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London|volume=82|pages=127–141|year=1909|last1=Thomas|first1=Oldfield}}</ref>
{{Quote
| text = Mr. Anderson has worked for the Exploration with superb enthusiasm and success, and in the extent to which his collections have revolutionized our knowledge of an extended part of the earth's surface he has made a record which, so far as I know, has never been equalled . . .
| author = Oldfield Thomas }}

==Death==
In response to the demands of [[World War I]] on American manufacturing, Anderson began working at a [[shipyard]] in 1918, as he was unable to join the Army.
On 21 February 1919, Anderson died when he fell from the [[scaffolding]] at [[Moore Dry Dock Company|Moore's Shipyard]] in [[Oakland, California]].
Following his death, his father [[Eulogy|eulogized]] him in the scientific journal ''[[The Condor (journal)|The Condor]]''.<ref name="Anderson 1919"/>

==Personal life==
Anderson married Mary Elizabeth Gurnee, a distant cousin,<ref name="Stanford"/> on 15 June 1913.<ref name="Directory">{{cite book| title=Alumni Directory and Ten-year Book, Volume 3| page=69|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2s3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA69|volume=3|year=1921|author=Stanford University}}</ref>
They had one son, Malcolm Gurnee Anderson, who died in infancy.<ref name="Stanford">{{cite report|url=http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/stanford/mss/m0051.pdf| title=Guide to the Anderson family Papers, 1848-1963|author=The Board of Trustees of Stanford University|year=1999|access-date=3 September 2018}}</ref>

==Species named in his honor==
Several species were named in honor of Anderson, including:
*[[Japanese red-backed vole]] (''Myodes andersoni'')—[[Oldfield Thomas|Thomas]], 1905
*[[Anderson's shrew mole]] (''Uropsilus andersoni'')—Thomas, 1911
*[[Anderson's white-bellied rat]] (''Niviventer andersoni'')—Thomas, 1911
*[[Anderson's four-eyed opossum]] (''Philander andersoni'')—[[Wilfred Hudson Osgood|Osgood]], 1913<ref name="Beolens 2009">{{cite book| last1=Beolens| first1= B.| last2= Watkins| first2= M.| last3= Grayson| first3= M.| date=2009| title= The eponym dictionary of mammals| publisher= JHU Press| page=12|isbn=9780801895333}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:American zoologists]]
[[Category: Accidental deaths in California]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths from falls]]
[[Category:Industrial accident deaths]]
[[Category:Zoological collectors]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Germany]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Malcolm}}

Malcolm Playfair Anderson - Revision history

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