Wilmer W. Tanner
{{Infobox person
|name=Wilmer W. Tanner
|image=Wilmer W. Tanner with museum-cleaned.jpg
|caption=Curator Tanner examines a donated tiger at the BYU Life Sciences Museum in 1973
|birth_date={{Birth date|1909|12|17}}
|birth_place= Fairview, Utah
|death_date={{Death date and age|2011|10|28|1909|12|17}}
|parents=John and Lois Ann Tanner
|spouse=Helen Brown (m. 1935–1995)
Ottella Watson (m. 1999–2003)
|alma_mater=Brigham Young University
}}
Wilmer Webster Tanner ({{Birth date|1909|12|17}} – {{Death date|2011|10|28}}) was an American zoologist, professor and curator.{{cite news |title=Dr. Wilmer W. Tanner |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/article_07ba4505-afa7-53a3-aab4-4d44297e2859.html |work=Daily Herald |date=November 1, 2011 |language=en}} He was associated with Brigham Young University (BYU), in Provo, Utah for much of his life and published extensively on the snakes and salamanders of the Great Basin.
Family
Tanner was born in Fairview, Utah, into a Mormon family. His paternal grandfather, David Dan Tanner, had immigrated to Utah in 1848.{{cite web|last=Tanner|first=Wilmer|title=David Daniel Tanner and His Families|url=http://vernalfhc.org/bconline/BookDetail.asp?BookID=496|publisher=Vernal Family History Center Online Catalog|access-date=10 January 2011|format=book summary}} Tanner was the fourth of John and Lois Ann Tanner's five children. One of Tanner's brothers, Vasco, was also a naturalist who taught at BYU.{{cite book|last1=Bücherl|first1=Wolfgang|last2=Buckley|first2=Eleanor E.|last3=Deulofeu|first3=Venancio|title=Venomous Animals and Their Venoms: Venomous Vertebrates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VW4XAQAAIAAJ&q=%22wilmer+tanner%22|page=394|year=1971|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=0-8283-2067-5|quote=Dr. Vasco M. Tanner and his herpetologist brother Dr. Wilmer Tanner both of Brigham Young University}}
On January 4, 1935, in the Salt Lake Temple Tanner married Helen Brown, with whom he had three children. Helen died in 1995, and Tanner married retired BYU instructor Ottella Watson on October 26, 1999. Ottella died November 21, 2003.
Education and career
In 1929, Tanner was a Mormon missionary to the Netherlands, where he learned Dutch.{{cite journal|title=Historical perspective: Wilmer W. Tanner|year=2001|journal=Copeia |author=Jack W. Sites Jr. |author2=Margaret M. Stewart |volume=2001|issue=2|pages=571–575|doi=10.1643/0045-8511(2001)001[0571:hpwwt]2.0.co;2 |jstor=1447909}} After his return in 1932, Tanner attended BYU, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1936.{{cite web|last=Daines|first=Gordon|title=Wilmer W. Tanner personal papers|url=http://lib.byu.edu/sites/byuhistory/2009/07/30/wilmer-w-tanner-personal-papers/|work=L. Tom Perry Special Collections|publisher=Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library|access-date=10 January 2011}} Tanner prepared a thesis about the snakes of Utah for his Master of Science in 1937. He then began a doctorate, but was delayed by World War II until 1946. At that time, Tanner was working as an assistant for Edward Harrison Taylor at the University of Kansas. Wilmer obtained his Ph.D. in 1948 with a thesis on comparative anatomy of salamanders of Mexico and Central America. In 1950, Tanner joined the BYU faculty.
File:Crotaphytus bicinctores.jpg the desert collared lizard as a new species in 1972.]]
In 1961 it was reported that Tanner, then an associate professor of zoology and entomology at BYU, was in the midst of a four-year study of the effect on Utah wildlife from exposure to higher natural radiation (from petrified trees which can concentrate radioactive minerals), resulting in areas with a 10 to 20 microcurie higher radiation level per hour than is typical of the surrounding geography.{{cite news|last=Van Orden|first=Del|title=Study Shows Radiation Count Rise|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=December 24, 1961|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|page=C3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/9811911/ |url-access=subscription}}
= Museum leadership =
Tanner served as the curator of the BYU's Life Sciences Museum from 1972 to 1979. In the late 70s, he helped process a large donation of samples and convinced the donor to fund a new building for the museum. The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum opened to the public in 1978 and over the ensuing years increased staff were hired, educational exhibits developed and scientific activities funded. Tanner felt this was the most important aspect of his career and devoted almost a quarter of his autobiography to discussing how the grant was won from Mr. Bean.
Study and work
Tanner's interest in herpetology was influenced by many people, primarily his brother Vasco Myron Tanner (a professor of zoology and entomology of Brigham Young University{{cite journal |last1=Tanner |first1=Vasco M. |title=Studies in the weevils of the Western United States No. IX: Description of a new species of Eucyllus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) |journal=Great Basin Naturalist |date=1959 |volume=19 |issue=2/3 |pages=53–55 |jstor=41711019}}{{cite book|title=Venomous Animals and Their Venoms: Venomous vertebrates|year=1971|publisher=Academic Press|oclc=19083743|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VW4XAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Wilmer+Tanner%22|author1=Wolfgang Bücherl |author2=Eleanor E. Buckley |author3=Venancio Deulofeu |location=New York|isbn=9780121389024}}), Joseph Richard Slevin of the California Academy of Sciences, and Laurence Monroe Klauber (who gave Tanner access to his collection); Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige, Norman Edouard Hartweg, Clark Hubbs, and Albert Hazen Wright were also influential.
Tanner published over 130 scientific articles, fifteen describing new species and genera. He is commemorated in the scientific name of the lizard Sceloporus tanneri.{{cite book|first1=Bo|last1= Beolens|first2=Michael|last2= Watkins|first3=Michael|last3= Grayson|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ovZoFyLhzkC&pg=PA260|date= 2011|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-1-4214-0135-5|page=260}}
File:Western terrestrial garter snake juvie.jpg, of which Tanner identified 2 possible subspecies.{{Cite journal |last=Tanner |first=Wilmer |last2=Lowe |first2=Charles |date=1989-10-31 |title=Variations in Thamnophis elegans with descriptions of new subspecies |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol49/iss4/6/?utm_source=scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol49/iss4/6&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages |journal=Great Basin Naturalist |volume=49 |issue=4 |issn=0017-3614}}]]
Tanner was a member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was one-time president of the Herpetologists' League.{{cite book|title=Scientific, technical, and related societies of the United States|year=1971|publisher=National Academy of Sciences |isbn=0-309-01860-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3C8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA115|author=National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)|location=Washington, D.C.|page=115|edition=9th}} He was the publisher of Herpetologica magazine for 18 years. He has also served as president of the Provo Energy Board.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ej5TAAAAIBAJ&pg=1927,2661636&dq=wilmer-tanner&hl=en|author=Childers, Laura|title=Provo, UP&L will keep trying for an accord|date=1986-08-06|work=Deseret News|access-date=24 January 2011}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=KNMjSwAACAAJ Autobiography] (self published)
- [http://www.google.com/search?q=inauthor%3A%22Wilmer+W.+Tanner%22&tbs=bks%3A1 Books he coauthored]
- [http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=wilmer-w-tanner&pid=154420682&fhid=4518 Obituary]
- [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/8006 Wilmer W. Tanner papers, MSS 7361] at [https://sites.lib.byu.edu/sc/ L. Tom Perry Special Collections], Brigham Young University
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Wilmer}}
Category:American herpetologists
Category:American magazine publishers (people)
Category:Brigham Young University alumni
Category:Brigham Young University faculty
Category:Directors of museums in the United States
Category:20th-century Mormon missionaries
Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah