Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches

Baker, Frank Collins (United States 1867-1942)
malacology, paleontology, ecology

Photo courtesy of the Illinois Natural History Survey.

Baker's studies on freshwater and terrestrial molluscs established him as one of the twentieth century's leading students of this subject. He published voluminously (a dozen or more books, and well over a hundred articles in The Nautilus alone), not only on malacological subjects but on Pleistocene geology, archeology, anthropology, limnology, and ecology as well. His reputation was probably most firmly established through the publication of his book The Life of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period in 1920. He is also remembered as a museum curator/director of great skill and forethought at a time when the value of this profession to educational and scientific agenda was first being fully recognized.

--born in Warren, Rhode Island, on 14 December 1867.
--1889-1890: Jessup Scholar, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
--1890: takes part in expedition to Mexico for the Academy of Natural Sciences
--1891-1892: invertebrate zoologist, Ward's Natural Science Establishment; secretary, Rochester Academy of Sciences
--1894: made curator of zoology, Field Columbian Museum, Chicago
--1894-1914: curator, Chicago Academy of Sciences
--1895: publishes his A Naturalist in Mexico
--1896: B.S., Chicago School of Science
--1900-1915: vice-president, Audubon Society
--1915-1917: studies lake bottom fauna for the New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse
--1918-1939: curator, Museum of Natural History, University of Illinois
--1920: publishes his The Life of the Pleistocene or Glacial Period
--1928: publishes his Fresh Water Mollusca of Wisconsin
--1931: vice-president, Illinois Academy of Sciences
--1941-1942: president, American Malacological Union
--dies at Urbana, Illinois, on 7 May 1942.