Claude W. Hibbard, popularly known as Hibbie (March 21, 1905 in

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– October 9, 1973 in

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), was an American

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. 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, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

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 preserved ...

s. He received a

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in 1933 and a

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in 1934, both in

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

. After briefly moving to

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to survey living mammals at what is now the

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, 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

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Museum of Zoology in 1936 to work on a dissertation, but returned to Lawrence, Kansas in 1938. Hibbard received his Ph.D. degree 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. 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 inter ...

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, Michigan Academy of Science, 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 mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

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 the ...

, 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 ...

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

References

Literature cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hibbard, Claude W. People from Ann Arbor, Michigan People from Lawrence, Kansas People from Woodson County, Kansas University of Michigan alumni University of Kansas alumni University of Michigan faculty American school principals American paleontologists 1905 births 1973 deaths