© 1979 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
C. O. Whitman and the American Society of Zoologists
Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University Kent, Ohio 44242
C. O. Whitman (1842–1910) studied under Louis Agassiz, Anton Dohrn, and Rudolph Leuchart. Under the influence of E. S. Morse, Whitman served as the second professor of zoology at the University of Tokyo (1880–81). For three years he was assistant to Alexander Agassiz at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Between 1883 and 1886 Whitman was editor of the Department of Microscopy for the American Naturalist. He became the first director of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, serving until 1908, and built that institution into an internationally famous center for education and research. He also became first professor of Zoology at the University of Chicago where he remained for life. In 1887 he founded the Journal of Morphology, and later Biological Lectures, and Zoological Bulletin which became the Biological Bulletin. His own research was in the fields of embryology, heredity, and evolution. In 1890 he, with colleagues, founded the American Morphological Society which became the American Society of Zoologists over a period of 13 years (1901–13) by the union of regional groups. Whitman played a leading role in the founding and early history of the Society.