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Concept
William King Gregory
Summary
William King Gregory (May 19, 1876 – December 29, 1970) was an American zoologist, renowned as a primatologist, paleontologist, and functional and comparative anatomist. He was an expert on mammalian dentition, and a leading contributor to theories of evolution. In addition he was active in presenting his ideas to students and the general public through books and museum exhibits.
He was born in Greenwich Village, New York, on May 19, 1876 to George Gregory and Jane King Gregory. He attended Trinity School and then moved onto Columbia University in 1895, initially at the School of Mines but then transferring to Columbia College. He majored in zoology and vertebrate paleontology under Henry Fairfield Osborn. While still an undergraduate he became Osborn's research assistant and soon after married Laura Grace Foote. He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia in 1900, followed by a masters in 1905, and a doctorate in 1910.
He developed an early interest in both fishes and the land vertebrates, publishing papers on both groups, including two in Science in 1903. By 1911 he had expanded his interests to encompass amphibians with a paper on the limb structure of the Permian Eryops. Despite his heavy workload he served as editor of the American Museum Journal (which would later become Natural History). He was formally appointed to the scientific staff at the American Museum of Natural History in 1911 and became part of the teaching faculty at Columbia in 1916, eventually rising to the post of Da Costa Professor in the Department of Zoology. His notable students included Alfred Romer, James Chapin, C. L. Camp, and G. K. Noble. He was similarly successful at the museum, becoming full curator of three departments and serving as Chairman of two.
Although his work was wide-ranging the overriding focus was on comparative anatomy. His studies often had particular significance in the field of evolution; he believed the anatomical structures of fossil and extant species should exhibit relationships.
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