Karl Patterson Schmidt

{{Short description|American herpetologist (1890–1957)}} {{About|the American herpetologist|people with the same or similar names|Carl Schmidt (disambiguation){{!}}Carl Schmidt}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Karl Patterson Schmidt | image = Karl Patterson Schmidt.tif | caption = {{Circa|1950}} | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1890|06|19}} | birth_place = Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|09|26|1890|6|19}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_cause = [[Snakebite]] | residence = | fields = [[Biology]], [[Herpetology]], [[Animal geographies]] | workplaces = [[American Museum of Natural History]], [[Field Museum of Natural History]] | alma_mater = [[Lake Forest Academy]], [[Cornell University]] | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = [[Robert F. Inger]] | known_for = | author_abbrev_zoo = K. P. Schmidt | influences = | influenced = | awards = [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] (1932), elected to [[National Academy of Sciences]] (1956), [[Ecological Society of America]] Eminent Ecologist (1957)<ref name=ESA>{{cite web|title=ESA History/Awards |url=http://www.esa.org/history/awards.php |publisher=Ecological Society of America |access-date=29 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514202500/http://www.esa.org/history/awards.php |archive-date=May 14, 2008 }}</ref> | signature =  | signature_alt = | footnotes = | spouse = {{marriage|Margaret Wightman|1919}} | children = 2 }} '''Karl Patterson Schmidt''' (June 19, 1890  – September 26, 1957) was an American [[herpetologist]].

==Family== Schmidt was the son of George W. Schmidt and Margaret Patterson Schmidt. George W. Schmidt was a German professor, who, at the time of Karl Schmidt's birth, was teaching in Lake Forest, Illinois. His family left the city in 1907 and settled in [[Wisconsin]]. They worked on a farm near [[Stanley, Wisconsin]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |year=2000 |url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/1599/1/B252.pdf |title=A History of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History |author=Myers, Charles W. |author-link=:fr:Charles William Myers |volume=252|pages=5–225 (19–20)|doi=10.1206/0003-0090(2000)252<0001:AHOHAT>2.0.CO;2}}</ref> where his mother and his younger brother died in a fire on August 7, 1935. The brother, [[Franklin J. W. Schmidt]], had been prominent in the then-new field of wildlife management.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Leopold, Aldo |url=http://sora.unm.edu/node/125981|journal=Wilson Bulletin|volume=48|issue=3|pages=181–186|title=Franklin J. W. Schmidt|year=1936|author-link=Aldo Leopold}}</ref> Karl Schmidt married Margaret Wightman in 1919, and they had two sons, John and Robert.<ref name=Emerson>{{cite journal|last=Emerson|first=Alfred E.|author-link=species:Alfred Edwards Emerson|title=K. P. Schmidt-Herpetologist, Ecologist, Zoogeographer|journal=Science|date=May 1958|volume=127|series=3307|pages=1162–1163|pmid=17771483|doi=10.1126/science.127.3307.1162|issue=3307 |bibcode=1958Sci...127.1162E}}</ref>

==Education== In 1913, Schmidt entered [[Cornell University]] to study biology and geology. In 1915, he discovered his preference for [[herpetology]] during a four-month training course at the Perdee Oil Company in [[Louisiana]]. In 1916, he received the degree of [[Bachelor of Arts]] and made his first geological expedition to [[Santo Domingo]]. In 1952 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by [[Earlham College]].<ref name="Emerson" />

==Career== From 1916 to 1922, he worked as a scientific assistant in [[herpetology]] at the [[American Museum of Natural History]] in [[New York City|New York]], under the well-known American herpetologists [[Mary Cynthia Dickerson]] and [[Gladwyn K. Noble]]. He made his first collecting expedition to [[Puerto Rico]] in 1919, then became the assistant curator of reptiles and amphibians at the [[Field Museum of Natural History]] in Chicago in 1922. From 1923 to 1934, he made several collecting expeditions for that museum to Central and South America, which took him to [[Honduras]] (1923), [[Brazil]] (1926) and [[Guatemala]] (1933–1934). In 1937, he became the editor of the herpetology and ichthyology journal ''[[Copeia]]'', a post he occupied until 1949. In 1938, he served in the [[U.S. Army]]. He became the chief curator of zoology at the Field Museum in 1941, where he remained until his retirement in 1955. From 1942 to 1946, he was the president of the [[American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists]]. In 1953, he made his last expedition, which was to [[Israel]].

==Death== [[File:Common Boomslang1.jpg |thumb |right |240px |alt=A green snake's head is prominent for a coiled snake facing the camera. |Schmidt died after being bitten by a juvenile [[boomslang]] snake.]] On September 26, 1957, Schmidt was bitten by a juvenile [[boomslang]] snake (''Dispholidus typus'') at his lab at the Field Museum. [[Marlin Perkins]], the director of the [[Lincoln Park Zoo]], had sent the snake to Schmidt's lab for identification.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pope|first1=Clifford H.| author-link =Clifford H. Pope|title=Fatal bite of captive African rear-fanged snake (''Dispholidus'')|journal=[[Copeia]]|date=1958|volume=1958|issue=4|pages=280–282|doi=10.2307/1439959|jstor=1439959}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyjF2bNQOA|title = Diary of A Snakebite Death| website=[[YouTube]] | date=27 October 2015 }}</ref> Schmidt wrongly believed that the snake could not produce a fatal dose because of its age and the fact that boomslangs are [[rear-fanged]]. The bite occurred because he held the snake in an unsafe manner, "too far behind the head."<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=September 27, 1957 |title=Curator Dies a Day After Bite by Snake |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-curator-dies-a-day-after/176242867/ |page=1 |work=[[Chicago Daily Tribune]] |access-date=July 8, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Boomslang venom causes [[disseminated intravascular coagulation]], a condition in which so many small clots form in the blood that the victim loses the ability to clot further and bleeds to death.

Later that evening, Schmidt felt slightly ill. By the next morning, the lethal effects of the venom rapidly became evident. He did not report to work, and at noon, he reported to the museum that he was very ill. Following the bite, he took detailed notes on the symptoms that he experienced, almost until death.<ref name="ChronoSketch">{{cite web|url=http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/SCHM1890.htm|title=Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Karl P. Schmidt|last=Smith|first=Charles H| author-link =Charles H. Smith (historian of science)|work=Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists|access-date=9 September 2014}}</ref> He collapsed at his home in [[Homewood, Illinois]], bleeding in his lungs, kidneys, heart, and brain, and was dead on arrival at [[Ingalls Memorial Hospital]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{cite web |date=11 January 2011 |title=Division of Amphibians and Reptiles History |url=http://fieldmuseum.org/explore/department/zoology/amphibians-and-reptiles/history |access-date=7 August 2012 |publisher=[[The Field Museum]]}}</ref>

==Legacy== Schmidt was one of the most important herpetologists in the 20th century. Though he made only a few important discoveries by himself, he named more than 200 species and was a leading expert on [[coral snakes]].<ref name="ChronoSketch" /> His donation of over 15,000 titles of herpetological literature formed the foundation for The Karl P. Schmidt Memorial Herpetological Library located at the [[Field Museum]].<ref name=":0"/>

His writings reveal that he was generally a solid supporter of a [[W. D. Matthew]] brand of [[Biological dispersal|dispersalism of species]].<ref name=ChronoSketch/>

==Taxa==

===Species and subspecies named for him=== Many [[species]] and [[subspecies]] of amphibians and reptiles<ref>[[species:Bo Beolens|Beolens, Bo]]; [[species:Michael Watkins|Watkins, Michael]]; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Karl Schmidt", p. 138; "Schmidt, K.P.", p. 236).</ref><ref>The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref> are named in his honor, including:

*''[[Acanthodactylus schmidti]]'' [[Georg Haas (paleontologist)|Haas]], 1957 *''[[Afrotyphlops schmidti]]'' ([[Raymond Ferdinand Laurent|Laurent]], 1956) *''[[Amphisbaena schmidti]]'' [[Carl Gans|Gans]], 1964 *''[[Aspidoscelis hyperythra schmidti]]'' [[John Van Denburgh|Van Denburgh]] & [[Joseph Richard Slevin|Slevin]], 1921 *''[[Batrachuperus karlschmidti]]'' {{interlanguage link|Liu Cheng-chao|fr|Cheng-chao Liu|lt=C.-c. Liu}}, 1950 *''[[Calamaria schmidti]]'' [[Hymen Marx|Marx]] & [[Robert F. Inger|Inger]], 1955 *''[[Coniophanes schmidti]]'' [[species:Joseph Randle Bailey|Bailey]], 1937 *''[[Eleutherodactylus karlschmidti]]'' [[Chapman Grant|C. Grant]], 1931 *''[[Emoia schmidti]]'' [[Walter Creighton Brown|W. Brown]], 1954 *''[[Lerista karlschmidti]]'' (Marx & [[species:William Hosmer|Hosmer]], 1959) *''[[Liolaemus schmidti]]'' (Marx, 1960) *''[[Pseudoxenodon karlschmidti]]'' [[Clifford H. Pope|Pope]], 1928 *''[[Scincella schmidti]]'' [[Thomas Barbour|Barbour]], 1927 *''[[Thrasops schmidti]]'' [[Arthur Loveridge|Loveridge]], 1936 *''[[Tribolonotus schmidti]]'' [[species:Charles Earle Burt|Burt]], 1930 *''[[Urosaurus ornatus schmidti]]'' ([[species:Myron Budd Mittleman|Mittleman]], 1940) *''[[Varanus karlschmidti]]'' [[Robert Mertens|Mertens]], 1951

===Some taxa described by him=== * ''[[Batrachuperus tibetanus]]'' K.P. Schmidt, 1929<ref name=1925China>{{cite journal|last=Schmidt|first=Karl P.|title=New reptiles and a salamander from China|journal=American Museum Novitates|date=February 13, 1925|issue=157|pages=1–6|url=http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Articles/Schmidt_1925.pdf|access-date=8 August 2012}}</ref> * ''[[Eleutherodactylus wightmanae]]'' K.P. Schmidt, 1920 * ''[[Varanus albigularis angolensis]]'' K.P. Schmidt, 1933 * ''[[Leptopelis parvus]]'' K.P. Schmidt & [[Robert F. Inger|Inger]], 1959<ref>{{cite iucn |author=IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group |date=2014 |title=''Leptopelis parvus'' |volume=2014 |article-number=e.T56278A18389418 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T56278A18389418.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> * ''[[Neurergus kaiseri]]'' K.P. Schmidt, 1952

==Publications== He wrote more than two hundred articles and books, including ''Living Reptiles of the World'', which became an international bestseller.

===Books=== * 1933 – ''Amphibians and Reptiles Collected by The Smithsonian Biological Survey of the Panama Canal Zone'' * 1934 – ''Homes and Habits of Wild Animals'' * 1938 – ''Our Friendly Animals and When They Came'' * 1941 – ''Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada'' with [[Delbert Dwight Davis]] * 1949 – ''Principles of Animal Ecology'' with [[Warder Clyde Allee]] (1885–1955) and [[Alfred Edwards Emerson]] * 1951 – [https://archive.org/details/ecologicalanimal030544mbp ''Ecological Animal Geography: An Authorized, Rewritten edition''] with [[Warder Clyde Allee]], based on ''Tiergeographie auf oekologischer Grundlage'' by [[Richard Hesse]]. 2nd, John Wiley & Sons, New York * 1953 – ''A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles'' * 1957 – ''Living Reptiles of the World'' with [[Robert F. Inger|Robert Frederick Inger]]

===Other publications=== *Schmidt, Karl P. (1922). [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21180#page/5/mode/1up''The American Alligator.''] Field Museum of Natural History, Zoology Leaflet No. 3 *Schmidt, Karl P. (1925). "New Reptiles and a New Salamander from China". ''American Museum Novitates'' (157): 1–6.<ref name=1925China /> *Schmidt, Karl P.(1929). [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21338#page/1''The Frogs and Toads of the Chicago Area''.] Field Museum of Natural History, Zoology Leaflet no. 11 *Schmidt, Karl P.(1930). [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21641''The Salamanders of the Chicago Area''.] Field Museum of Natural History, Zoology Leaflet no. 12 *Schmidt, Karl P. (1930). "Reptiles of Marshall Field North Arabian desert expeditions, 1927–1928". Field Museum of Natural History Publication 273, Zoological series vol. 17, no. 6., p. 223-230.<ref name="Field Museum Library">{{cite web |url=http://library2.fieldmuseum.org:8991/F/M378TUPLKFG6X63JBPPSPAK5BSEDAGQ7YRI2YX7L4LXLFCX33V-33735?func=full-set-set&set_number=490857&set_entry=000001&format=037 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414211930/http://library2.fieldmuseum.org:8991/F/M378TUPLKFG6X63JBPPSPAK5BSEDAGQ7YRI2YX7L4LXLFCX33V-33735?func=full-set-set&set_number=490857&set_entry=000001&format=037 |archive-date=14 April 2013 |title=Field Museum Library |access-date=22 August 2012 }}</ref> *Schmidt, Karl P. (1945) [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21454#page/11''A New Turtle from the Paleocene of Colorado''.] Fieldiana: Geology, published by the Field Museum of Natural History * Schmidt, Karl P.; [[Frederick A. Shannon|Shannon, F. A.]] (1947). "Notes on Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico". ''Fieldiana Zool.'' '''31''': 63–85.<ref name=1947Field>{{cite journal|last=Schmidt|first=Karl P.|author2=Shannon, F.A.|author2-link=Frederick A. Shannon|title=Notes on amphibians and reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico|journal=Fieldiana: Zoology|date=Feb 1947 |volume=31 |issue=9 |pages=63–85 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/20730#page/6/mode/1up|access-date=12 October 2012}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Karl Patterson Schmidt |sopt=t}} * [https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/SCHM1890.htm Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Karl P. Schmidt] * [http://www.gf.org/fellows/13046-karl-patterson-schmidt Karl Patterson Schmidt Guggenheim Fellows Listing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912132205/http://www.gf.org/fellows/13046-karl-patterson-schmidt |date=2012-09-12 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Karl Patterson}} [[Category:1890 births]] [[Category:1957 deaths]] [[Category:American herpetologists]] [[Category:20th-century American zoologists]] [[Category:Lake Forest Academy alumni]] [[Category:Cornell University alumni]] [[Category:Deaths due to snake bites]] [[Category:Deaths due to animal attacks in the United States]] [[Category:People associated with the Field Museum of Natural History]] [[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:American people of German descent]]