William King Gregory
Born	19 May 1876 Greenwich Village, New York
Died	29 December 1970 Woodstock, New York
Occupation	Zoologist
Spouse	Laura Grace Foote Angela Bois

William King Gregory (19 May 1876 – 29 December 1970) was a US zoologist, renowned as a primatologist, paleontologist, and functional and comparative morphologist. 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. Image File history File linksMetadata Gregory. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... This article is about the Village of Greenwich in Washington County, New York. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Woodstock, New York The name Woodstock is associated with two locales in New York. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... Primatology is the study of primates. ... A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... Morphology is the following: In linguistics, morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. ... Orders Multituberculata (extinct) Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Australosphenida Ausktribosphenida Monotremata Subclass Eutheria (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Anagaloidea (extinct) Arctostylopida (extinct) Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Cingulata Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Dinocerata (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Leptictida (extinct) Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata... Dentition is the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. ... In 1832, while travelling on the Beagle, naturalist Charles Darwin collected giant fossils in South America. ...

Early life

He was born in Greenwich Village, New York on 19 May 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 transfering to Columbia College. He majored in zoology and vertebrate paleontology under Henry Fairfield Osborn. While still an undergradute he became Osborn's research assistant and soon after married Laura Grace Foote. He received his graduate degree from Columbia in 1900, followed by a masters in 1905, and a doctorate in 1910. The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (pronounced Grennich Village; also called simply the Village) is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Columbia University is a private university whose main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Classes and Clades See below Vertebrata is a subphylum of chordates, specifically, those with backbones or spinal columns. ... Henry Fairfield Osborn (August 8, 1857 — November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist and geologist. ...

Academic career

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. Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus, the most abundant fish species in the world, Photo by Uwe Kils This page is about the animals which live in water. ... yt dftj cgh cjhgScience in the broadest sense refers to any system of knowledge attained by verifiable means. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Subclasses and Orders Order Temnospondyli - extinct Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct Subclass Lissamphibia   Anura   Caudata   Gymnophiona Amphibians (class Amphibia; from Greek αμφις both and βιος life) are a taxon of animals that include all tetrapods and four-legged vertebrates that do not have amniotic eggs, are ectotherms, and generally spend part of their time... The Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 299. ... Binomial name Eryops megacephalus Cope, 1882 Eryops (AR-ee-ops) meaning drawn-out face because most of its skull was in front of its eyes (Greek eryein = drawn-out + ops = face) is a genus of extinct, semi-aquatic amphibian found primarily in the Permian-aged Admiral Formation of Archer County... The American Museum of Natural History is a landmark of Manhattans Upper West Side in New York, USA, at 79th Street and Central Park West. ... Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 _ November 5, 1973) was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution. ... James Paul Chapin. ...

Although his work was wide-ranging the overiding focus was on comparative anatomy. His studies often had particular significance in the field of evolution; he believed the the anatomical structures of fossil and extant species should exhibit relationships. His work charted the evolution from the early fishes through the various branches to birds and mammals, with numerous papers and two major works: Our Face from Fish to Man in 1929 and Evolution Emerging in 1951. An ammonite fossil Eocene fossil fish of the genus Knightia Petrified wood fossil formed through permineralization. ... Extant means still existing. It is the opposite of extinct, and can be applied to species, cultures and works of culture (e. ...

He developed the principle of habitus and heritage — theorizing that animals evolved with two sets of characteristics: the heritage features which derived from a long evolutionary history and the habitus characteristics which were adaptations to the environment in which the species existed. He later expanded this to his palimpsest theory which proposed that the habitus features often overlaid and obscured the heritage features. A similar theory, mosaic evolution has appeared since King Gregory's death. A palimpsest is a manuscript page, scroll, or book that has been written on, scraped off, and used again. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

He studied lemurs and the insectivorous primates, as always concerning himself with evolutionary origins. From the 1920s he became involved in the study of marsupials, in 1947 developing his palimpsest theory by showing a connection between the monotremes and early reptiles. Around the early 1920s he also became interested in recent human evolution particularly after the discovery of the early African hominids. His specialist knowledge of mammalian dentition led him to pursue the same path with regard to human evolution and he came to be regarded as the world's leading expert on the evolution of human dentition, a reputation secured by the 1922 publication of The Evolution of the Human Dentition. However, he did initially think the hoax, Piltdown Man, likely to be genuine.^[1] Families Cheirogaleidae Lemuridae Megaladapidae Indridae Lemurs are part of a class of primates known as prosimians, and make up the infraorder Lemuriformes. ... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Orders Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Marsupials are mammals in which the female typically has a pouch (called the marsupium, from which the name Marsupial derives) in which it rears its young through early infancy. ... Families †Kollikodontidae Ornithorhynchidae - Platypus Tachyglossidae - Echidnas †Steropodontidae Monotremes (monos, single + trema, hole; refers to the cloaca) are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials (Metatheria) and placental mammals (Eutheria). ... A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The portrait painted by John Cooke in 1915. ...

Later life

He retired from the American Museum of Natural History in 1944 and from Columbia in 1945, and moved permanently to his house in Woodstock, New York with his second wife Angela, whom he had married soon after Laura's death in 1937. In 1949 he was awarded the Sasf in 1949 for his contributions to physical anthropology. He died in the Woodstock house on 29 December 1970. He had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1927 and on his death was one of the oldest members. Woodstock may refer to: Woodstock Music and Art Festival, a 1969 U.S. rock festival which inspired a 1970 Warner Bros. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ...

Notes

References

• Edwin H. Colbert (1975). “William King Gregory”, Biographical Memoirs V.46. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 97-106.

External link

Viking Fund Medal