Hobart Muir Smith, born Frederick William Stouffer (born September 26, 1912), is an American herpetologist

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

. He was born in Stanwood, Iowa

Stanwood, Iowa

Stanwood is a city in Cedar County, Iowa, United States. The population was 680 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Stanwood is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. He has been credited with describing several new species of North American reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s and amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s. As well, he has been honored by having a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of blackhead snake

Tantilla

Tantilla is a large genus of harmless colubrid snakes which includes 64 species commonly known as centipede snakes, blackhead snakes, and flathead snakes.- Description :...

 named after him, Tantilla hobartsmithi

Tantilla hobartsmithi

The Southwestern Blackhead Snake is a small species of colubrid snake native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The epithet hobartsmithi is in honor of American zoologist Hobart M. Smith, which sometimes leads it to be referred to as Smith's Blackhead Snake...

.

Education

Smith attained his bachelor of science in 1932 from Kansas State University

Kansas State University

Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

, under Howard K. Gloyd

Howard K. Gloyd

Howard Kay Gloyd was an American herpetologist who is credited with describing several new species of reptile, such as the Florida Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti...

, and attained his masters (in 1933) and doctorate (in 1936) at the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 under Dr. Edward Harrison Taylor

Edward Harrison Taylor

Edward Harrison Taylor was an American herpetologist from Kansas.He was born in Maysville, Missouri and studied at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, graduating with a B.A. in 1912. Subsequently, he went to the Philippines, where at first he held a teacher's post in a village in central...

. Where his thesis was a revision of the lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Sceloporus. He also participated in several specimen collecting trips to Mexico.

Career

In 1936 Smith was awarded a National Research Council

United States National Research Council

The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...

 Fellowship at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, where he worked with several other researchers to write and publish The Mexican and Central American Lizards of the Genus Sceloporus. In 1937 he worked for both the Chicago Academy of Sciences and the Field Museum of Natural History

Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...

. He was given a fellowship by the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 to collect specimens in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and collected over 20,000. From 1941 until 1945 he was a zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 professor at the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

, in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. In 1945 he returned to the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

 as an associate professor and wrote the Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the US and of Canada. In 1946 he moved to Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and became an associate professor of wildlife management at Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 and wrote Checklist and key to snakes of Mexico and Checklist and key to amphibians of Mexico with Taylor. From 1947 until 1968 he was a professor of zoology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. He retired in 1968 and moved to Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

, where he became a professor of biology at the University of Colorado

University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

. In 1972 he became chairman of, what is now, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder

The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is an academic department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the . The department conducts research in numerous aspects of biology ranging from ecosystems to genetics...

. In 1983 he retired, becoming a professor emeritus and continued his personal research with over 880 publications, including 29 books.

At 98 years of age, Hobart Smith continues to be an active and productive herpetologist. Having published 1,602 manuscripts as of 2006, he has surpassed all contemporaries and remains the most published herpetologist of all time.

Personal life

Born Frederick William Stouffer in 1912, he was adopted in 1916 by Charles and Frances Smith, farmers. In 1938 he married Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood (then Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood Smith, 1911–1987), who helped him publish his extensive collection of herpetological notes.

Selected bibliography

• Checklist and key to snakes of Mexico (1945)
• Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the US and of Canada (1946)
• Checklist and key to amphibians of Mexico (1948)
• Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of Kansas (1950)
• Checklist and Key to Reptiles of Mexico Exclusive of Snakes (1950)
• Reptiles and Amphibians - A Guide to Familiar American Species (1958)
• Poisonous Amphibians and Reptiles (1959)
• Evolution of Chordate Structure (1961)
• Snakes as Pets (1965)
• Analysis of the Literature on the Mexican Axolotl (1971)
• Analysis of the Literature Exclusive of the Mexican Axolotl (1973)
• Source Analysis and Index for Mexican Reptiles (1976)
• Source Analysis and Index for Mexican Amphibians (1976)
• Guide to Mexican Amphisbaenians and Crocodilians (1977)
• Guide to Mexican Turtles (1980)
• Reptiles of North America - A Guide to Field Identification with Edmund D. Brodie, Jr. (1982)