Frank Elmer Peabody (28 August 1914 - 27 June 1958), was an American

palaeontologist 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 ...

noted for his research on

fossil trackway A fossil track or ichnite ( Greek "''ιχνιον''" (''ichnion'') – a track, trace or footstep) is a fossilized footprint. This is a type of trace fossil. A fossil trackway is a sequence of fossil tracks left by a single organism. Over the ye ...

s and reptile and amphibian skeletal structure. He attended high school and junior college in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. His undergraduate studies were completed at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1938 and in 1940 he was awarded an M.A. in paleontology. While working at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

he came under the tutelage of Professor

Charles Lewis Camp Charles Lewis Camp (March 12, 1893 – August 14, 1975) was an American Palaeontology, palaeontologist and Zoology, zoologist, working from the University of California, Berkeley. He took part in excavations at the 'Placerias Quarry', in 1930 and ...

from whom he inherited a passion for vertebrate

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

problems.Charles L. Camp (1893-1975), third director of UCMP.
University of California Museum of Paleontology. Peabody and fellow student Sam P. Welles helped Camp with his research on the North American

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

with their work at the

Moenkopi Formation The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a Geological unit, group ...

, the

Dinosaur National Monument Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green River (Colorado River tributary), Green and Yampa River, Y ...

sandstones, and the

Kayenta Formation The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau area of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Originally suggested as being Sinemur ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Peabody worked at the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

and

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...

, and finished his doctorate at the University of California in 1946. He accompanied the University of California South African Expedition in 1947-1948 as Senior Paleontologist. He and Charles Camp excavated at Gladysvale Cave and nearby Bolt's Farm. Subsequently, they visited the

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

in their search for specimens. The expedition also visited

Wonderwerk Cave Wonderwerk Cave is an archaeological site, formed originally as an ancient solution cavity in dolomite rocks of the Kuruman Hills, situated between Danielskuil and Kuruman in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. It is a National Herita ...

Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kga ...

. Charles Camp, Joseph T. Gregory, and Frank Peabody were interested in the histology of fossil bones, and prepared numerous sections to compare their structures with those of modern mammals. This slide collection continues to be useful.Padian, K
What's Inside a Dinosaur Bone?
University of California Museum of Paleontology Newsletter. May, 2008. Peabody later became Instructor in Zoology at 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 ...

at Lawrence. The fossils he excavated near

Garnett, Kansas Garnett is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,242. History Garnett was platted in 1857. Garnett is named for W. A. Garnett, a native of Louisville ...

, were source material for his work on the earliest known reptiles. Until his untimely death of a heart attack in 1958, his interests included the evolution,

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practiced by osteologists . A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, archaeology and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone mo ...

, and ecology of the Garnett fossil reptiles. Shortly before his death he was awarded a

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

research grant.Frank Elmer Peabody, Zoology: Los Angeles.
In Memoriam, April 1960. University of California. Peabody was married to wife Anna for 20 years and they had three children.

Publications

*
Trackways Of Living And Fossil Salamanders.
' (1959). University of California Press. *Peabody, F. E. (1961)
Annual growth zones in living and fossil vertebrates.
''Journal of Morphology'' 108(1) 11–62.

References

External links

Frank E. Peabody Notes, Maps, and Illustrations, 1938-1958.
— ''University of California Museum of Paleontology.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Peabody, Frank E. American paleontologists Paleozoologists 1914 births 1958 deaths University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Kansas faculty 20th-century American geologists 20th-century American zoologists Peabody family