Robert W. (Robert Warren) Wilson

Born in Oakland, California, in 1909, he became known for research on North American vertebrate fossils, especially mammals from the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. He studied geology at the California Institute of Technology, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1932 and completing his doctorate there in 1936.

His career included research and teaching posts at Yale, Caltech, the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas, and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where he directed the Museum of Geology. Later he returned to work with the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, and his papers were preserved there, reflecting a career that stretched across much of the twentieth century.

Wilson was widely respected by fellow paleontologists. He served as president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in 1955, became an honorary member in 1978, and received the Romer-Simpson Medal in 1999 for sustained contributions to the discipline. A 1984 volume of essays in vertebrate paleontology was published in his honor, showing the regard he earned from colleagues over a lifetime of work.