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Alexander Wetmore

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Alexander Wetmore
Wetmore with his wife Beatrice, 1969
6th Secretary of theSmithsonian Institution
In office
1945–1952
Preceded byCharles Greeley Abbot
Succeeded byLeonard Carmichael
Personal details
Born(1886-06-18)June 18, 1886
North Freedom, Wisconsin,U.S.
DiedDecember 7, 1978(1978-12-07)(aged 92)
Glen Echo, Maryland,U.S.
EducationUniversity of Kansas(BA)
George Washington University(MA,PhD)
Known forOrnithology
Paleontology

Frank Alexander Wetmore(June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an Americanornithologistand avianpaleontologist.[1][2][3]He was the sixth Secretary of theSmithsonian Institution.He was also an elected member of both theAmerican Philosophical Societyand the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences.[4][5]

Early life and education

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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 theUniversity of Kansasin 1905. During his studies there he did a stint as an assistant in the University Museum, under the direction of Charles D. Bunker. Alexander Wetmore later received his BA from the University of Kansas in 1912; finally receiving his MS in 1916 and his PhD in 1920 fromGeorge Washington University.[6]Wetmore began federal service in 1910, working for the Biological Survey of theDepartment of Agriculture.In 1915, he researched the use of lead shot in causing death in waterfowl. His paleontological research led to his work on the fossil birdsPalaeochenoides mioceanusandNesotrochis debooyi.

From April 1923 to July 1924, Wetmore was the lead scientist of theTanager Expedition,a series of fivebiological surveysto study theflora,faunaandgeologyof theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands,Johnston AtollandWake Island.In 1924, Wetmore joined the Smithsonian Institution as the superintendent of theNational Zoo in Washington, D.C.[7]In 1925, Wetmore was appointed assistant secretary of theSmithsonian Institution,becoming secretary between 1945 and 1952. In 1929 he participated in thePinchot South Sea Expedition.In 1939 he was elected aCorresponding Member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union He wroteA Systematic Classification for the Birds of the World(1930, revised in 1951[8]and 1960). This Wetmore Order received widespread acceptance, remaining popular until the end of the twentieth century. From 1944 to 1946 Wetmore served as the 15th president ofThe Explorers Club.Between 1946 and 1966 Wetmore made annual trips toPanamato study and collect specimens of the birds of the Isthmus. His 4-volume magnum opus,Birds of the Republic of Panama,was published by the Smithsonian between 1965 and 1984, the last volume appearing posthumously.[9]He also served on the boards of trustees of Science Service, now known asSociety for Science & the Public,from 1946 to 1953, and of theNational Geographic Society,where he served successively as vice chairman, acting chairman, and chairman emeritus of the Committee for Research and Exploration, from 1933 until his death, in his final years as a trustee emeritus.

Severaltaxaof birds have been named in his honor, including theCretaceousgenusAlexornisand thetanagersWetmorethraupis sterrhopteronandButhraupis wetmorei.Insects, mammals, amphibians, mollusks, and one plant (an Argentinian cactus), as well as a bridge in Panama and theWetmore Glacierin theAntarctic,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,andAnolis brevirostris wetmorei.[11]

In 1953 he marriedAnnie Beatrice van der Biest Thielan,who became guarantor of theAmerican Ornithologists' Unionafter his death in 1978.[12]His papers and an oral history interview are held at the Smithsonian Institution.[13]

References

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  1. ^Alexander Wetmore, Ornithologist.Todayinsci.com. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.
  2. ^Paul H. Oehser(1980)."In Memoriam: Alexander Wetmore".The Auk.97(3): 608–615.doi:10.1093/auk/97.3.608.
  3. ^Biographical Memoirs,Volume 56, Office of the Home Secretary
  4. ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.RetrievedJuly 10,2023.
  5. ^"Alexander Wetmore".www.nasonline.org.RetrievedJuly 10,2023.
  6. ^"Alexander Wetmore, 1886–1978".Smithsonian Institution Archives.RetrievedJune 21,2020.
  7. ^Alexander Wetmore 1886–1978ArchivedJuly 17, 2011, at theWayback Machine.Anthropology.si.edu. Retrieved on March 11, 2013.
  8. ^Wetmore, Alexander (1951).A revised classification for the birds of the world.Smithsonian miscellaneous collections;v.117, no.4. Smithsonian Institution.
  9. ^"Alexander Wetmore in Panama".Archived fromthe originalon September 28, 2012.RetrievedDecember 8,2010.
  10. ^"Alexander Wetmore page at the Smithsonian".Archived fromthe originalon February 1, 2016.RetrievedDecember 8,2010.
  11. ^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5.( "Wetmore", p. 283).
  12. ^Olson, Storrs L. (1997)."In Memoriam: Beatrice Wetmore, 1910–1997".The Auk.114(4): 751–753.doi:10.2307/4089295.JSTOR4089295.
  13. ^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.
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