Robert Torrens Hatt
Robert Torrens Hatt (born July 17, 1902 in Lafayette , Indiana , † September 16, 1989 ) was an American zoologist (mammaloge) and paleontologist.
Live and act
Hatt was the son of William Kendrick Hatt and Josie Belle Appleby Hatt. His father was a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University . Hatt grew up in Lafayette and attended Purdue University from 1919 to 1920. In 1923 he received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan . He began his career at the Michigan museums after he was assigned a research position in an old university museum by one of his professors, Alexander Grant Ruthven (1882–1971). Hatt graduated from Columbia University with a degree in zoology with a special interest in mammals , where he received his masters degree in 1925 and a Ph.D. in 1932. received his doctorate.
From 1923 to 1928, Hatt was a lecturer in biology at New York University . From 1928 to 1935 he was Assistant Curator for Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. From 1932 to 1935 he was the corresponding secretary of the American Society of Mammalogists .
In 1935, Hatt became director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science (CIS), a position he held until his retirement in 1967. During Hatt's tenure, the CIS was expanded. As a result of its research, the institute gained worldwide attention in the scientific community. In recognition of his services, Hatt received the Founders Medal from the Cranbrook Foundation in 1964 .
In addition to his work at the Cranbrook Institute, Hatt conducted intensive field studies . He went on expeditions through the United States, Mexico, Pakistan, the Congo and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and published numerous professional articles and several books. He was a member of the Zoological Society of London and the New York Zoological Society and a contributor to the American Museum of Natural History .
As a Fulbright Foundation research fellow , Hatt traveled to Iraq from 1952 to 1953. In 1956 he was appointed advisor to the Pakistani Ministry of Education for Science Museums by UNESCO.
Hatt was married twice. 1929 with Marcelle Roigneau. From this marriage two sons were born. After Roigneau's death in 1951, he married Suzannah Beck Vaillant in 1953. Even after his retirement in 1967, Hatt continued his research and travels around the world. In 1989 he died of a stroke.
Hatt erstbeschrieb the taxa Thamnomys major , Orycteropus afer faradjius , Heterohyrax brucei chapini , Lophuromys (Kivumys) luteogaster , Praomys lukolelae and Praomys minor . In 1932, Harold Elmer Anthony named the Yucatán Vesper Rat in honor of Robert Torrens Hatt.
Works (selection)
- Island Life: A Study of Land Vertebrates of the Islands of Eastern Lake Michigan , 1948
- Faunal and Archeological Researches in Yucatan Caves , 1953
- Cranbrook Institute of Science: A History of Its Funding and First Twenty-five Years , 1959
literature
- Cranbrook Archives: Robert Torrens Hatt (1902–1989) Papers, 1919–1984. Cranbrook Educational Community, 2000
- Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2009, ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9 , p. 180
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hatt, Robert Torrens |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hatt, Robert T. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American zoologist and paleontologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 17, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lafayette , Indiana |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1989 |