Harry B. Whittington

Harry Blackmore Whittington FRS (March 24, 1916 – June 20, 2010) was a British paleontologist based at the Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, and was affiliated to Sidney Sussex College. He attended Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham, followed by a degree and Ph.D in geology from the University of Birmingham. He was professor of paleontology at Harvard University and then Woodwardian Professor of Geology 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 arthropods of the early Paleozoic era , with a particular focus on trilobites. 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 fauna, which led to elucidation of the nature of the Cambrian explosion.

Awards and honours

• 1990 Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.
• 2001 International Prize for Biology
• 2001 Wollaston Medal

External links

• 2001 International Prize for Biology: Harry Blackmore Whittington Curriculum Vitae
• Guardian obituary written by Richard Fortey
• Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 9 Aug 2010.