Claude William Hibbard, popularly known as Hibbie (March 21, 1905 in Toronto, Kansas – October 9, 1973 in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

), was an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Early life and education

Born on a farm in rural southeastern Kansas as the oldest of six children, Hibbard graduated from Fall River High School in 1923. He attended Emporia State Teaching College in Emporia, Kansas, during the summer and the following autumn became principal of a school in Thrall, Kansas. In 1926, he enrolled in the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

as a pharmacy major. He frequently went on paleontological collecting trips. During one such excursion, he fashioned a primitive sieve to recover small vertebrate

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1933 and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1934, both in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

Career

After briefly moving to

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

to survey living mammals at what is now the

Mammoth Cave National Park Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system in the world. The park's are located primarily in Edmonson County, with sma ...

, he returned to Kansas, where he became Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. In the summer of 1936, the University did not fund a paleontological collecting trip; accordingly, Hibbard was commissioned by the Museum of Zoology to survey living mammals in eastern Kansas, and found time to collect fossils between his trapping duties. During his collecting trips in Kansas, which continued from 1936 in 39 mostly consecutive summers, Hibbard perfected the wet-screening technique for recovering small fossils, which caused a revolution in the knowledge of small mammal fossils. He went to the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Museum of Zoology in 1936 to work on a dissertation, but returned to Lawrence, Kansas in 1938. Hibbard received his Ph.D. in Ann Arbor in 1941 and became Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Assistant Professor of Zoology in Kansas. He moved to Ann Arbor definitively in 1946 and became Professor of Geology in 1953, a position he held until his death in 1973.

Works

More than 80 scientists attended a symposium in his honor on May 7–8, 1974. Hibbard wrote 158 scientific papers and was renowned for his discipline, dedication, and early rising. At least 18 species were named after him and he served as president of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and activities SVP has about 2,300 members inte ...

, Kansas Academy of Science,

Michigan Academy of Science Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and Michigan Geological Society, and director of the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) is an international learned society devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology (study of fish) and herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians). The primary emphases of th ...

, and

American Geological Institute The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is a nonprofit federation of about 50 geoscientific and professional organizations that represents geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. The organization was founded in 1948. The name of ...

Personal life

Hibbard married Faye Ganfield in September 1935. They had a daughter, Katherine, and two grandchildren.

Early life and education

Career

Works

Personal life

References

Literature cited

External links