Alexander Wetmore

Alexander Wetmore ( born June 18, 1886 in North Freedom, Wisconsin as Frank Alexander Wetmore; † December 7, 1978 in Glen Echo, Maryland) was an American ornithologist and paleontologist.

He was the son of Nelson Franklin and Emma Amelia (nee Woodworth ) Wetmore. His father was a country doctor. In 1912 he received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kansas, in 1916 his Master of Science at George Washington University and in 1920 finally his Ph.D. in zoology. In 1912, he married Fay Holloway. From 1905 to 1908 he was an assistant at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and in 1909 assistant at the Denver Museum of Natural History. From 1910 he worked in the department of biological research in the Department of Agriculture of the United States before 1925 was given the post of assistant secretary at the Smithsonian Institution. From 1945 to 1952 he was secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1930 he published his standard work A Systematic Classification for the Birds of the World, the order of the families of birds as " Wetmore Order" was known and found wide acceptance among ornithologists of the 20th century. Revised editions appeared in 1951 and 1960. Other important works were Birds of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (1931 ) and The Birds of the Republic of Panamá (1965).

Research

Wetmores first research trip led him in 1911 to Puerto Rico, where he studied the bird life. In 1918 he described the remains of extinct Rail Nesotrochis debooyi, which were discovered in 1916 by Theodoor de Booy. 1920 Wetmore wrote his doctoral thesis entitled " The Birds of Porto Rico ." Between 1920 and 1921 he studied in South America, the bird migrations between the continents.

Wetmore is the describer of 189 Vogeltaxa. More than 50 animal and plant species have been named after him, including the fossil genera and Alexornis Presbyornis and Wetmoreralle ( Rallus wetmorei ), violet shoulder - tanagers ( Wetmorethraupis sterrhopteron ) and Wetmore - tanagers ( Buthraupis wetmorei ).

Awards

1927 Wetmore was awarded the Isidore - Geoffroy -Saint -Hilaire- Medal of the French Society for Nature Conservation Société nationale de protection de la nature, 1931, he awarded the Otto Herman Medal of the French ornithologist Association Société hongroise d' ornithology, 1959, he received the William Brewster medal from the American ornithologists ' Union ( AOU ), of which he was from 1926 to 1929. The Committee gave the following reasons for this:

"For the past generation Dr. Wetmore was the leading expert on fossil birds in North America. The large number of his works are included in " A check -list of the fossil and prehistoric birds of North America and the West Indies", what we would especially like to mention here. Dr. Wetmores contribution to our science is not limited to the palaeontology of birds. The range of his interests and the extent of his efforts manifested in the books and writings which he published as a result of his research year after year. Among the books themselves tomes are like " Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ," "The migration of birds ", " Observations on the birds of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile ," " The birds of Haiti and the Dominican republic " and last but not least, the fifth edition of the AOU publication " Check -list of North American birds: according to the canons of nomenclature of the American ornithologists ' Union ", was created under his leadership. With Alexander Wetmore we praise a biologist who needs to be called during his now 50 - year career as one of the architects of American ornithology. "

In 1972 he was awarded with the Elliott Coues medal a further assessment of the AOU. 1946 honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, he was awarded. In 1961 he became an honorary member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Publications (selection )

• "The Book of Birds" (1932 )
• "A check -list of the fossil birds of North America" ​​(1940 ), Washington
• "A Checklist of the Birds of Prehistoric Fossil and North America and the West Indies" (1940, 1956)
• " Song and Garden Birds of North America " (1964)
• "Water Prey and Game Birds of North America" ​​(1965 )
• " The Birds of Panama " 4 volumes (1968 )

Literature on Alexander Wetmore

• Bo Beolens & Michael Watkins ( 2003). Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate. Yale University Press ( New Haven & London).
• Allen G. Debus ( dir. ) ( 1968). World Who's Who in Science. A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present. Marquis Who's Who ( Chicago)