Jonathan Hall

By Matt Schudel

Washington Post Staff Writer      Sunday, March 16, 2008

There is no evidence that Jonathan Hall's Labrador retrievers were smarter than any other dogs -- they only seemed that way. From his earliest years, Hall was surrounded by a menagerie of dogs, hamsters, chameleons and even tame rats that he trained to do all sorts of unexpected things. "Our dogs all could balance a cracker on their nose, toss it up in the air and catch it," recalled one of his daughters, Stephanie Hall.

He taught the dogs to bark in a whisper, to shake hands and to say  "yes"  by nodding their heads. As much as he tried, though, Hall could never get them to shake their heads "no."  He also trained them to retrieve his hat and keys, which proved useful when he couldn't remember    where he'd put them.

But his dogs' most remarkable skill may have been their ability to understand American Sign Language. Hall was a professor of biology and natural sciences at Gallaudet University for almost 40 years, and his talented dogs were among the many tricks of his teaching trade. They    responded to sign-language commands, much to his students' amusement, and when Hall spelled out the words "lie down" the dogs would do just that.

Jonathan Hall, shown in about 1930, had a lifelong interest in science, which he taught at Gallaudet University. A daughter described him as an "adventurer-scholar."

"He was incredibly entertaining," Stephanie Hall said of her father. "He would do anything to capture his students' attention. He wanted them to have hands-on experience."

Hall spent much of his life at Gallaudet and was, in fact, born on campus in "House One,"  the president's residence, on Feb. 6, 1912. His father, Percival Hall, was the university's second president, holding the office from 1910 to 1945. An older brother, Percival Hall Jr., taught      astronomy and mathematics at Gallaudet for many years. Their grandfather, Asaph Hall, was an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory and discovered the moons of Mars in 1877.

Although Jonathan Hall had no hearing impairment of his own, his mother was deaf, and he grew up as fluent in sign language as in English. He had an early fascination with the natural world and technology. As a boy, he filled the president's house with animals, fossils and outlandish contraptions. He once made a small, propeller-driven dirigible, which he flew down the stairs and out the windows of the president's house.

He also loved motorcycles, at least until he had a serious accident in his 20s and took up bicycling. He had a lifelong fascination with       photography, passed down from his grandfather, who made glass-plate negatives of his astronomical observations.

His daughter said that Hall knew all the constellations by sight and had "the wildest, weirdest garden you could imagine. It was ordinary for him to refer to plants in the yard by their Latin names."

Hall grew up with a strong belief in the idea of scientific progress and rationalism. He and his father "were both interested in this idea of   the new renaissance man, the adventurer-scholar,"  Stephanie Hall said."They wanted to make a difference and do a lot of things."

After graduating from  Eastern High School, Hall attended the University of Maryland before transferring to Rollins College in  Winter Park, Fla., where he was captain of the fencing team. He returned to Gallaudet for a master's degree in deaf education in 1937.

He joined teaching the same year, first teaching mathematics and scientific drawing before switching to biology and natural sciences. In  1944, he married Aileen Boutilier, a professor of home economics and child development. She died in 2004.

Their home in Kensington became an extension of Hall's laboratory. He kept  jars filled with bugs in the refrigerator and included his four children in home movies demonstrating scientific principles. He trained a rat to climb a rope and  was especially fond of an abandoned opossum that became a family pet. "This opossum was housebroken and would chase the Labradors around the house,"  Stephanie Hall said. "He taught the opossum to beg for grapes."

At Gallaudet, Hall unreeled a kite string and attached models of planets to    it, each in proportion to its distance to the sun.

"Pluto was halfway across campus," his daughter said. "He would try to make things very concrete for the students. He thought if they could feel and touch things, they could see the concepts."

He was also ahead of his time in assigning essay questions on biology and science exams, maintaining that "every teacher of the deaf has to be a writing teacher."

After retiring in 1977, Hall was determined to see Halley's Comet, which had last streaked through the skies two years before he was born. Peering through a telescope, he witnessed its return in 1986.

Throughout his long and busy life, Jonathan Hall's view of the world was refracted through the inquiring lens of science. When he died of pneumonia on Feb. 10 at age 96, he left one final request: that his body be donated to the Maryland State Anatomy Board for scientific study.

Story printed on the 8th................

Jonathan Hall, 96, a retired biology and science professor at Gallaudet University, died Feb. 10 of pneumonia at Holy Cross Hospital        in Silver Spring. He lived in Wheaton.

Mr. Hall, whose father was the second president of Gallaudet, was born on campus in the president's house. He became proficient in American Sign Language, although he was not hearing-impaired.

He graduated from  Eastern High School in 1930 and  was interested in photography, science and motorcycles. After briefly        attending the University of Maryland, he transferred to Rollins College in  Winter Park, Fla., where he became captain of the fencing team. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1935. In 1937, he received a master's degree in deaf education from Gallaudet.

Mr. Hall began teaching science and drawing classes at Gallaudet in 1938 and was named a professor of natural sciences in 1942.        He taught biology and science courses until he retired in 1977.  He took his students on field trips to collect specimens and made          visual aides to help in his classroom presentations, including filmstrips and home movies demonstrating scientific principles.

Mr. Hall was a member of the National Space Society. He lived in Kensington for years before moving to Wheaton in the 1980s.

His wife of 59 years, Aileen Boutilier Hall, died in 2004.

Survivors include four children, Peter Hall of Wheaton, Stephanie Hall of Takoma Park, Geoffrey Hall of Austin and Jessica Zoe   Hall of Silver Spring; and a granddaughter.

-- Matt Schudel