Alexander Wetmore | |
|---|---|
 Wetmore with his wife Beatrice, 1969 | |
| 6th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution | |
| In office 1945–1952 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Greeley Abbot |
| Succeeded by | Leonard Carmichael |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1886-06-18)June 18, 1886 North Freedom, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | December 7, 1978(1978-12-07) (aged 92) Glen Echo, Maryland, U.S. |
| Education | University of Kansas(BA) George Washington University(MA,PhD) |
| Known for | Ornithology Paleontology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | ornithology and paleontology |
| Institutions | Department of Agriculture Smithsonian Institution |
| Thesis | A study of the body temperature of birds (1920) |
Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an Americanornithologist and avianpaleontologist.[1][2][3] He was the sixth Secretary of theSmithsonian Institution. He was also an elected member of both theAmerican Philosophical Society and the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences.[4][5]
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 Kansas in 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][7]
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 mioceanus andNesotrochis debooyi.
From April 1923 to July 1924, Wetmore was the lead scientist of theTanager Expedition, a series of fivebiological surveys to study theflora,fauna andgeology of theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands,Johnston Atoll andWake Island. In 1924, Wetmore joined the Smithsonian Institution as the superintendent of theNational Zoo in Washington, D.C.[8] 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 UnionHe wroteA Systematic Classification for the Birds of the World (1930, revised in 1951[9] 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 toPanama to 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.[10] 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.[citation needed]
Severaltaxa of birds have been named in his honor, including theCretaceous genusAlexornis and thetanagersWetmorethraupis sterrhopteron andButhraupis wetmorei. Insects, mammals, amphibians, mollusks, and one plant (an Argentinian cactus), as well as a bridge in Panama and theWetmore Glacier in theAntarctic, have also been named after him.[11] Wetmore is commemorated in the scientific names of one species and two subspecies of reptiles:Pholidoscelis wetmorei,Uromacer frenatus wetmorei, andAnolis brevirostris wetmorei.[12]
In 1953, he marriedAnnie Beatrice van der Biest Thielan, who became guarantor of theAmerican Ornithologists' Union after his death in 1978.[13] His papers and an oral history interview are held at the Smithsonian Institution.[14]
