Harry Blackmore Whittington FRS (March 24, 1916 – June 20, 2010) was a British paleontologist based at the Department of Earth Sciences

University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences

The Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge is the University of Cambridge's Earth Sciences department. The main location of the department is at the Downing Site, Downing St. The Bullard Laboratories, located in West Cambridge on Madingley Rd, and the Godwin Laboratory, in the New Museums Site...

, Cambridge, and was affiliated to Sidney Sussex College

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Sidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.The college was founded in 1596 and named after its foundress, Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. It was from its inception an avowedly Puritan foundation: some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance...

. He attended Handsworth Grammar School

Handsworth Grammar School

Handsworth Grammar School is voluntary aided grammar school that admits boys from the age of eleven and boys . The school was founded in 1862 and is located in Handsworth, Birmingham, England. it is situated just off the A41, near the junction with the A4040...

 in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, followed by a degree and Ph.D in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 from the University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...

. He was professor of paleontology at Harvard University and then Woodwardian Professor of Geology

Woodwardian Professor of Geology

The Woodwardian Professor of Geology is a professorship held in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. It was founded by John Woodward in 1728...

 at Cambridge University from 1966 to 1983. During a paleontological career that spans more than sixty years, Professor Whittington achieved brilliant results in the study of fossil arthropod

Arthropod

An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

s of the early Paleozoic era , with a particular focus on trilobite

Trilobite

Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

s. Among Professor Whittington's major achievements are:

• the study of trilobite morphology, ecology, and fossil stratigraphy, together with paleogeography
• the study of the Burgess Shale
  Burgess Shale
  The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
  
   fauna, which led to elucidation of the nature of the Cambrian explosion
  Cambrian explosion
  The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes...
  
  .

Awards and honours

• 1990 Mary Clark Thompson Medal
  Mary Clark Thompson Medal
  The Mary Clark Thompson Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for most important service to geology and paleontology." Named after Mary Clark Thompson, it was first awarded in 1921.- List of Mary Clark Thompson Medal winners :...
  
   from the National Academy of Sciences
  United States National Academy of Sciences
  The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
  
  .
• 2001 International Prize for Biology
  International Prize for Biology
  The International Prize for Biology is an annual award for significant contributions to biology. The award was created in 1985 to recognize Emperor Hirohito of Japan's long time interest in and support of the biological sciences. The selection and award of the prize is managed by the Japan Society...
  
  
• 2001 Wollaston Medal
  Wollaston Medal
  The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
  
  

External links

• 2001 International Prize for Biology: Harry Blackmore Whittington Curriculum Vitae
• Guardian obituary written by Richard Fortey
• Obituary, The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
  
  , 9 Aug 2010.