Hyman, Libbie Henrietta

▪ American zoologist

born Dec. 6, 1888, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.

died Aug. 3, 1969, New York City

      U.S. zoologist and writer particularly noted for her widely used texts and reference works on invertebrate and vertebrate zoology.

      Hyman received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago (1915), where she had a research appointment (1916–31) under the distinguished zoologist Charles Manning Child. Much of her work during that period was on flatworms. She held an honorary research appointment (1937–69) to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City until her death.

      Among her important works were A Laboratory Manual for Elementary Zoology (1919), A Laboratory Manual for Comparative Vertebrate Zoology (1922), Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (1942), and The Invertebrates, 6 vol., (1940–68), a monumental work still incomplete at the time of her death. She served as editor of Systematic Zoology (1959–63) and as president of the Society of Systematic Zoology (1959).

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