Alexander Wetmore
Alexander Wetmore | |
---|---|
6th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution | |
In office 1945–1952 | |
Preceded by | Charles Greeley Abbot |
Succeeded by | Leonard Carmichael |
Personal details | |
Born | North Freedom, Wisconsin, U.S. | June 18, 1886
Died | December 7, 1978 Glen Echo, Maryland, U.S. | (aged 92)
Education | University of Kansas (BA) George Washington University (MA, PhD) |
Known for | Ornithology Paleontology |
Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an American
Early life and education
The son of a physician, Frank Alexander Wetmore was born in North Freedom, Wisconsin. Developing an interest in birds at an early age, he made his first field journal entry (a pelican seen while on vacation in 1894) at the age of eight. By 1900, Wetmore published his first paper "My Experience with a Red-headed Woodpecker," in the magazine Bird-Lore. To further his education Wetmore enrolled at the
From April 1923 to July 1924, Wetmore was the lead scientist of the
Several taxa of birds have been named in his honor, including the Cretaceous genus Alexornis and the tanagers Wetmorethraupis sterrhopteron and Buthraupis wetmorei. Insects, mammals, amphibians, mollusks, and one plant (an Argentinian cactus), as well as a bridge in Panama and the Wetmore Glacier in the Antarctic, have also been named after him.[10] Wetmore is commemorated in the scientific names of one species and two subspecies of reptiles: Pholidoscelis wetmorei, Uromacer frenatus wetmorei, and Anolis brevirostris wetmorei.[11]
In 1953 he married
References
- ^ Alexander Wetmore, Ornithologist. Todayinsci.com. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.
- .
- ^ Biographical Memoirs, Volume 56, Office of the Home Secretary
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
- ^ "Alexander Wetmore". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
- ^ "Alexander Wetmore, 1886–1978". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
- ^ Alexander Wetmore 1886–1978 Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Anthropology.si.edu. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.
- ^ Wetmore, Alexander (1951). A revised classification for the birds of the world. Smithsonian miscellaneous collections ;v.117, no.4. Smithsonian Institution.
- ^ "Alexander Wetmore in Panama". Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
- ^ "Alexander Wetmore page at the Smithsonian". Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Wetmore", p. 283).
- JSTOR 4089295.
- ^ SIA RU007006, Wetmore, Alexander 1886–1978, Alexander Wetmore Papers, circa 1848–1979 and undated | Smithsonian Institution Archives. Siarchives.si.edu. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.
External links
- Biography Archived February 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
- Alexander Wetmore from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Wetmore, Alexander materials at Internet Archive
- Alexander Wetmore Oral History Interviews from the Smithsonian Institution Archives