Edward William Nelson
Edward William Nelson (May 8, 1855 - May 19, 1934) was an American naturalist and ethnologist.
In 1877 Nelson joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Spencer Fullerton Baird was responsible for selecting Signal Officers for the remoter stations, and would choose men with scientific training who were prepared to study the lcoal flora and fauna. Baird sent Nelson to St. Michael, Alaska.
Nelson was the naturalist on board the USRC Corwin, which sailed to Wrangel Island in search of the USS Jeanette in 1881. Nelson published his findings in the Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877-1881 (1887). He also published his ethnological findings in The Eskimo about Bering Strait (1900).
In 1890 Nelson accepted an appointment as a Special Field Agent with the Death Valley Expedition under Clinton Hart Merriam, Chief of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department of Agriculture. After this expedition he was ordered to conduct a field survey in Mexico, and Nelson remained in the country for the next fourteen years. Nelson continued to work for the Bureau of Biological Survey until 1929, being Chief of the Bureau from 1916 to 1927.