Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches



Dunn, Emmett Reid (United States 1894-1956)
herpetology

Dunn, a leading herpetologist of his era, was especially known for his familiarity with the herpetology of Panama, and for his work on the salamanders of eastern North America. Dunn spent a fair amount of time in the field in locations ranging from Komodo Island in the East to Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica, and Cuba in the American tropics. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography additionally described his work thusly: "Among his other outstanding contributions to zoology were his revision of the classifications and phylogeny of salamanders, identification and description of new species of reptiles, and his work on comparative anatomy and zoogeography, distribution, and ecology." Dunn discovered around forty new species of reptiles and amphibians, and published over two hundred professional papers. His most celebrated work was undoubtedly his Salamanders of the Family Plethodontidae.

Life Chronology

--born in Alexandria, Virginia, on 21 November 1894.
--1915: A.B., Haverford College
--1916: M.A., Haverford College; made zoology assistant at Smith College
--1917-1918: commissioned as an ensign in the U. S. Navy
--1921: Ph.D., Harvard University; made assistant professor of zoology at Smith College
--1924-1929: editor, Copeia
--1926: publishes his Salamanders of the Family Plethodontidae; takes part in expedition to Komodo Island
--1928: resigns from Smith College when he receives a Guggenheim fellowship to work in the American tropics and European museums
--1929: appointed associate professor of biology, Haverford College
--1930-1931: president, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
--1935-1956: David Scuff professor of biology, Haverford College
--1937: made curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
--1942: publishes "The American Caecilians" in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard.
--1944: pursues field work in South America
--1946-1956: research associate, American Museum of Natural History
--dies at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on 13 February 1956.

For Additional Information, See:

--Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists (1997).
--National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 43 (1961).
--Copeia, (2) (1957): 75-77.
--Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 37(3) (1956): 87-88.
--Science, Vol. 123(3205) (1956): 975.


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Copyright 2005 by Charles H. Smith. All rights reserved.
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/DUNN1894.htm

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