John Augustine Zahm (June 14, 1851 – November 10, 1921) who is simply called Father Zahm born in Ohio was a Catholic priest who was part of the Holy Cross congregation. He was also a writer, a scientist, and later on a South American explorer. His interest in traveling to South America was out of his curiosity for nature. He tried to find a way to complement between Darwinism and Catholicism which later on would accompany Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit on to the Amazon. As a matter of fact when he befriended Theodore Roosevelt it was he who suggested to him the trip.

Kermit Roosevelt attribute the near disaster of the trip to him due to his influence on Theodore.  The truth is in fact that Father Zahm made miscalculations in planning the trip and provisioning’s.  The crew was irritated by him that he became sideline.

At age 70 he died in Munich Germany