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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