Named in memory of Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807–1873), Swiss-born naturalist, later a professor at Harvard, where he was the leading U.S. opponent of Darwin; his son Alexander Agassiz (1835–1910), marine zoologist and oceanographer; and his grandson George Russell Agassiz (1862–1951), for many years a friend and benefactor of the Harvard Observatory and for whom the Agassiz Station is named. (M 5451) Agassiz is also honored by a crater on Mars. _ _.