Henry Edward Crampton

Henry Edward Crampton (January 5, 1875 – February 26, 1956) was an American evolutionary biologist and malacologist who specialized in land snails. Crampton undertook the first major study of evolution in nature in his research in the Society Islands. Crampton made twelve separate expeditions over the course of his career to Moorea near Tahiti to study the land snail genus Partula, while years more were spent measuring and cataloguing his specimens. In all, he dedicated nearly half-a-century to the study. Crampton taught as a professor at Columbia University and Barnard College from 1904 to 1943. He also worked as a curator at the American Museum of Natural History.

Early life Henry Edward Crampton Jr. was born on January 5, 1875, in New York City to Dorcas Matilda (née Miller) and Henry Edward Crampton, a surgeon in New York City. He attended the College of the City of New York and graduated from Columbia College (later Columbia University) in 1893. The following year, 1896, he returned to Columbia as a lecturer.

Crampton was the curator of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

During World War I, Crampton worked with Hollis Godfrey to organize the Council of National Defense, and served as the vice chairman of the Committee on Engineering and Education.

He also served as president of the New York Academy of Sciences and as secretary of the American Eugenics Society. He was also a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences, New York Zoological Society, American Society of Naturalists and The Explorers Club. Together, they had two children: Henry and Ann. Henry E. Crampton Jr. married Harriet Jessup, the granddaughter of Reverend Jessup, founder of the American University of Beirut.

Crampton died on February 26, 1956, at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

Selected bibliography Crampton H. E. 1916. The Doctrine of Evolution Its Basis and Its Scope. New, York, Columebia University Press. Crampton H. E. 1916. Studies on the variation, distribution and evolution of the genus Partula. The species inhabiting Tahiti. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 228: 1-311. Crampton H. E. 1925. Studies on the variation, distribution and evolution of the genus Partula. The species of the Mariana Islands, Guam and Saipan. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 228a: 1-116. Cooke C. M. & Crampton H. E. (1930) "New species of Partula". B. P. Bishop. Mus. Occ. Papers 9: 3-5. Crampton H. E. 1932. Studies on the variation, distribution and evolution of the genus Partula. The species inhabiting Moorea. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 410: 1-335.