William Morton Wheeler

William Morton Wheeler ( born March 19, 1865 in Milwaukee, † April 19, 1937 in Cambridge (Massachusetts), USA) was the beginning of the 20th century as the recognized authority in the field of research of ants and other social insects. He is widely considered the first major North American ethologist.

William Morton Wheeler began his studies at the German - English Academy by Peter Engelmann in Milwaukee, today the University School of Milwaukee, and was there from 1885 to 1887 worked as a teacher. From 1887 to 1890 he was director of the Milwaukee Public Museum. After completing his doctorate at Clark University (1890-1892) he became professor of zoology at the University of Chicago ( 1892-1899 ). He then taught from 1899 to 1903 at the Zoological Institute of the University of Texas at Austin. He then worked from 1903 to 1908 at the American Museum of Natural History ( 1903-1908 ) and was finally from 1908 to 1937 professor at Harvard University.

Wheeler had his doctoral thesis though written in the field of insect embryology, but quickly became the leading authority on the behavior of social insects, and here again, especially for the behavior of the ants; be particularly interested in the evolution of social behavior of ants. He was instrumental in the formation of behavioral science as a discipline within biology and made 1902 in Science was the first in the English language the term ethology known.

He was regarded as a highly competent taxonomist and provided the first description of a vast number of newly discovered species. Two of his publications have long been considered standard works: " Ants: Their Structure, Development, and Behavior " (1910) and "Social Life Among the Insects " (1923).

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