Frank Clifford Whitmore Jr. (November 17, 1915 – March 18, 2012) was an American geologist including chief of the Military Geology Unit of the United States Geological Survey, vertebrate paleontologist with the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch of the United States Geological Survey, awardee of the Medal of Freedom, fellow of the Geological Society of America, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Penrose Medal citationist, awardee of the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Natural Science, Honorable Kentucky Colonel, member of the National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration, founding member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, recipient of the Meritorious Service Award by the United States Department of Interior.
Early life and education
Whitmore was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 17, 1915, to Marin Gertrude (Mason) and Frank Clifford Whitmore, then a graduate student at Harvard University and later a prominent chemist. In 1934, Whitmore enrolled as an English major at Amherst College, Massachusetts. To complete his science requirement Whitmore took historical geology taught by F. B. Loomis. Whitmore was the only student who signed up so Loomis geared the class heavily on vertebrate evolution, his research interest. By the end of that year, Whitmore decided he wanted to be a vertebrate paleontologist."
Whitmore completed his B.S. cum laude with honorable mention in geology from Amherst centered on vertebrate paleontology and his M.S. from Penn State studying paleontology under Frank M. Swartz and stratigraphy under Paul Kimitrie Kyrine. Whitmore continued his education at Harvard University, studying under vertebrate paleontologist, Alfred Sherwood Romer. Whitmore was Romer's first student from the geology department; all previous students had been from biology. Whitmore's first real field experience in vertebrate paleontology came during the summer of 1940 when he traveled with the Harvard field crew to the Uinta Basin of Utah to collect fossil mammals. While working on his doctorate Whitmore served as a teaching fellow and university fellow in paleontology.
Whitmore's doctoral study, suggested by Romer, was the cranial morphology of three Oligocene artiodactyls. Whitmore wrote, "It is the purpose of this study to examine in detail the cranial anatomy of some of these extinct genera, because endocranial characteristics are probably nonadaptive, that is, unlikely to be influenced by the environment, and therefore useful in determining the taxonomic position of groups of animals." For this study, a serial sectioning apparatus was designed and built by F. Russell Olsen of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. This sectioning technique, perfected for paleobotany with cellulose acetate peels, was adapted for vertebrates and described in a paper by Olsen and Whitmore. It was a pioneering achievement in its approach and formed the basis of later work by others, in which details of cranial anatomy such as blood circulation, ear morphology, and brain configuration have been used in polygenetic studies of fossil mammals.
Career as teacher, geologist and World War II
Whitmore's first postgraduate job was a teaching position at Rhode Island State College (now the University of Rhode Island) from 1942 to 1944. When the Army Specialized Training Program came to the college, he also taught economic and political geography. Preparation for these courses aided him most in the next phase of his career.