Waldo L. Schmitt

Waldo LaSalle Schmitt (June 25, 1887 – August 5, 1977) was an American biologist born in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1922. In 1948, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Southern California. Schmitt's primary field of zoological investigation was carcinology, with special emphasis on the decapod crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and so on). His bibliography consists of more than seventy titles.[2]

Waldo L. Schmitt
Schmitt in 1965
Born(1887-06-25)June 25, 1887
Washington, D.C.[1]
DiedAugust 5, 1977(1977-08-05) (aged 90)
Sandy Spring, Maryland[1]
Alma materGeorge Washington University
Spouse(s)Alvina Stumm
Scientific career
Fieldscarcinology
InstitutionsUnited States National Museum, Bureau of Plant Industry

Background
  • He was married to Alvina Stumm.[2]
  • Schmitt was an Aide in Economic Botany for the United States Department of Agriculture (1907–1910)
  • Appointed Scientific Aide in the Division of Marine Invertebrates of the United States National Museum
  • Studied Crustacea with Mary Jane Rathbun
  • Served on the staff of the United States Bureau of Fisheries as Scientific Assistant
  • Naturalist aboard the Albatross (1911–1914)
  • Assistant Curator at the United States National Museum as in the Division of Marine Invertebrates (1915–1920)
  • Instructor of Zoology at George Washington University (1917)
  • Named Curator of the Division of Marine Invertebrates (1920–1943)
  • Head Curator of the Department of Biology (1943)
  • Head Curator of Zoology (1943–1957)
  • Honorary Research Associate and continued his association with the Smithsonian Institution until his death on 5 August 1977.

Biological expeditions
Invertebrates at 85 feet, Turtle Rock, Antarctica. Photo from Schmitt's Antarctic expedition, 1962-63
  • 1918 studying the life history of the spiny lobster at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
  • 1924–1925, was at the Carnegie Institution's Marine Laboratory at Dry Tortugas, Florida, surveying the crustacean fauna of the area, identifying crustaceans found in the stomachs of fishes.
  • 1925, awarded the Smithsonian's Walter Rathbone Bacon Traveling Scholarship "for the study of the fauna of countries other than the United States." The scholarship enabled him to collect marine invertebrates along the east coast of South America.
  • 1927 Schmitt was aboard Fleurus at Deception Island
  • 1933–1935, to the Galápagos Islands sponsored by G. Allan Hancock of Los Angeles, California.
  • 1937, a guest of Huntington Hartford, he explored and collected in the West Indies on the Smithsonian-Hartford West Indies Expedition.
  • 1938, accompanied President Franklin D. Roosevelt as naturalist on the Presidential Cruise to Clipperton Island, Cocos, and the Galapagos Islands.
  • 1939, member of the Hancock South America Expedition and
  • 1940 Biologist in charge of field operations on the first United States Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska king crab investigation.
  • 1941–1942, on special detail with the United States Navy investigating the possibility of establishing a biological station in the Galapagos Islands.
  • 1943, visited South America, under the auspices of the State Department, for the purpose of strengthening relations between United States and Latin American scientists.
  • 1955, headed the Smithsonian–Bredin Belgian Congo Expedition.
  • 1956–1960 led Bredin-sponsored expeditions to the Caribbean (1956, 1958, 1959), the Society Islands (1957), and the Yucatan (1960).
  • 1961–1962 Sponsored by a grant from the Office of Naval Research, Schmitt spent the summers of with Harry Pederson photographing the coral reef fauna of the Bahamas Islands.
  • 1962–1963, his last expedition - member of the Survey of the United States Antarctic Research Program, the Staten Island cruise to Marguerite Bay and Weddell Sea.

Participation in Scientific Societies
Lobster lunch aboard the research vessel Mureva, with dancers from Bora Bora. Photo from Schmitt's Smithsonian-Bredin Expedition, 1956.
  • Founding member of the Society of Systematic Zoology and served as president in 1948.
  • President of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1947.
  • Trustee of the Bear's Bluff Laboratories,
  • Trustee of the International Oceanographic Foundation
  • Trustee of the Serological Museum of Rutgers University.

Legacy
Camp Schmitt

Further reading
  • Richard E. Blackwelder (1979). The Zest for Life, or Waldo Had a Pretty Good Run: The Life of Waldo LaSalle Schmitt. Lawrence, Kansas: The Allen Press, Inc.
  • John Sherwood (1977-01-11). "Uncle Waldo Still Hears the Call of Crustaceans". The Washington Star.
gollark: Antispaghetti is generally considered a dark chapter in foodological histology.
gollark: And destroyed the moon, so NASA had to fake landing there.
gollark: Well, we discovered moon aliens, so we gave them antispaghetti as a "gift", buuuut turns out it wiped them out.
gollark: Particle accelerators do produce a bit of antimatter, I think. It's been studied.
gollark: wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

References
  1. Fenner A. Chace, Jr. (1978). "Waldo LaSalle Schmitt, 25 June 1887 – 5 August 1977". Crustaceana. 34 (1): 83–90. doi:10.1163/156854078x00583. JSTOR 20103251.
  2. David E. Lanar. "Review of the Life of Waldo LaSalle Schmitt, Father of Waldo Ernest Schmitt". bsa-troop33.net. Troop 33, Takoma Park. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. "Takoma Park South Neighborhood Park". Montgomery Parks. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  4. "Waldo's Wilds" (PDF). Takoma Voice. 2007-09-07. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-21. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  5. Carrie Arnold (August 19, 2013). "Where's Waldo? Off the Pacific Coast". Weird & Wild, National Geographic. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
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