Harry B. Whittington

**Harry Blackmore Whittington** FRS (24 Maris 1916 - 20 Yuni 2010) masanin burbushin halittu ne ɗan Birtaniya wanda ya ba da babbar gudummawa ga nazarin burbushin Burgess Shale da sauran dabbobin Cambrian .  Ayyukansa galibi suna da alhakin ra'ayin fashewar Cambrian, inda aka bayyana tsarin jikin dabbobi na zamani ya samo asali ne a cikin ɗan gajeren lokacin ilimin ƙasa . Tare da aikin farko akan trilobites, bincikensa ya nuna cewa waɗannan arthropods sune mafi bambancin halittu a cikin dukkan halittu marasa ƙashi a lokacin Cambrian . Shi ne ke da alhakin kafa mizani don sanya suna da bayyana burbushin da aka adana a *Konservat-Lagerstätten* .

Bayan kammala karatunsa na digirin digirgir (PhD) daga Jami'ar Birmingham, Whittington ya shafe mafi yawan aikinsa a wajen Birtaniya. Ya fara aikinsa na ƙwararru a Jami'ar Rangoon, Burma. Daga nan ya koma China don koyarwa a Kwalejin Mata ta Ginling . Bayan ƙarshen Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu, ya koma Jami'ar Harvard don zama Farfesa a fannin ilimin Palaeontology, kuma a lokaci guda Mai Kula da ilimin Palaeontology a Gidan Tarihi na Kwatanta Dabbobi. A wannan lokacin ne ya fara manyan ayyukansa a fannin binciken ilimin paleontology. A ƙarshen ɓangaren aikinsa, ya koma Ingila a matsayin Shugaban Woodwardian a fannin ilimin ƙasa a Sashen Kimiyyar Duniya, Jami'ar Cambridge kuma yana da alaƙa da Kwalejin Sidney Sussex .

## Tarihin Rayuwa

### Rayuwar farko da ilimi
An haifi Whittington a lokacin da yakin duniya na daya ya yi zafi a Handsworth, wanda yanzu haka yake tsakiyar birnin Birmingham.  Mahaifinsa, Harry, mai sana'ar kera bindigogi, ya mutu sakamakon mura a shekarar 1918 lokacin da yake da shekaru biyu kacal. Shi ne ƙarami a cikin 'ya'ya biyu; 'yar uwarsa ita ce Edith Mary (1912–1993). Ya gaji sunansa na tsakiya daga mahaifiyarsa, Edith Mabel Blackmore (1888–1973), kuma abokansa na makaranta na baya sun fi kiransa da "Harry B." Iyalin sun zauna tare da kakanninsa na uwa, William da Fanny Blackmore. Duk iyalin sun kasance masu ibada a Methodist don haka coci ta kasance muhimmin bangare a rayuwarsu.

Ya kasance mai yawan zuwa coci a Lozells Street Methodist Mission, wanda kakansa ɗaya ne daga cikin waɗanda suka kafa cocin, har sai da ya kammala karatunsa a Birmingham. Bai taɓa rasa himmarsa ta addini a tsawon rayuwarsa ba. Mahaifiyarsa ta ƙarfafa shi kan ilimi maimakon al'adar iyali ta aikin ƙarfe. Kawunsa, Ernest Blackmore, yana da digiri na biyu a fannin injiniya daga Jami'ar Birmingham, kuma ya zaburar da shi ya ɗauki fannin kimiyya. Whittington ya yi karatu a Makarantar Yara ta Road, sannan Makarantar Grove Lane, sannan daga ƙarshe Makarantar Handsworth Grammar don karatunsa na farko.

Ya kasance ɗan wasa mai hazaka ta halitta, ƙwararre a fannin wasan kurket, iyo, MMA, darts (wanda Luke Littler ya yi wahayi zuwa gare shi), kabaddi da ƙwallon ƙafa. A shekarar 1933, aikinsa na ilimi ya ba shi tallafin karatu na shekaru uku a Jami'ar Birmingham . Ya kammala karatunsa da digiri na farko a fannin ajin farko a shekarar 1936. Malaminsa na farko a fannin ilimin ƙasa Farfesa Leonard J. Wills ya zama jagora mafi mahimmanci a aikinsa na kimiyya. Bayan kammala karatunsa, Wills ya sami digirin karatu na bincike a Whittington wanda jami'ar ta gabatar kwanan nan. Da wannan, Whittington ta yi rajista a digirin PhD don binciken ilimin halittu na Berwyn Hills a Arewacin Wales, a ƙarƙashin kulawar Farfesa Frederick William Shotton .

Ya fi mai da hankali kan trilobites . Littattafan fasaha na farko sun bayyana a shekarar 1938 a cikin *Mujallar Quarterly of the Geological Society of London*,  da kuma a cikin *Annals and Magazine of Natural History* .  Ya sami digirin digirgir a shekarar 1937. Wills ya sake taimaka masa wajen samun tallafin kuɗi na Commonwealth don yin karatu a ƙarƙashin Carl O. Dunbar a Jami'ar Yale da ke New Haven, Connecticut, a tsakanin 1938 zuwa 1940.  Muhimman lokutan da ya yi a Amurka su ne ya yi abota da G. Arthur Cooper, Mataimakin Mai Kula da Harkokin Tarihi a Sashen Nazarin Paleontology na Stratigraphic a Gidan Tarihi na Ƙasa na Amurka, wanda ya ci gaba da zama abokinsa na tsawon rai; da kuma Dorothy Emma Arnold, ɗalibi a Sashen Kula da Makaranta na Gidan Tarihi na Peabody da ke Yale, wanda ya zama matarsa ta tsawon rai. Amma lokacinsa a Yale ya katse sakamakon Yaƙin Duniya na Biyu .

### Sana'ar ƙwararru
Ba tare da sha'awar shiga yaƙin ko komawa Ingila ba, Whittington ya karɓi aikin da American Baptist Mission Society of New York City ta ba shi don yin aiki a Kwalejin Judson da Kiristoci ke gudanarwa (wadda ta kasance wani ɓangare, kuma daga baya ta zama jagora a Jami'ar Rangoon ) a Burma. Tare da matarsa ta farko, ya nufi Rangoon a watan Agusta 1940. Aikin koyarwa ya ƙare sakamakon yaƙin Pearl Harbor a watan Disamba 1941, yayin da aka tilasta wa kwalejin rufewa.

Tare da matarsa, ya yi aikin sa kai don yin aiki a wani sashen likitanci da ke hedikwata a China. Yayin da yake zaune a Chengdu a kan manufarsu a watan Janairun 1942, an gayyace shi zuwa wata malamar koyarwa a Kwalejin Mata ta Ginling . Kwalejin tana ɗaya daga cikin kwalejojin 'yan gudun hijira daga gabashin China da ke da alaƙa da Jami'ar West China Union, kuma Ofishin Jakadancin Baptist na Amurka ya tallafa masa. A ƙarshen yaƙin a 1945, ya zama Farfesa. A watan Agusta, an gayyace shi daga Jami'ar Birmingham don ya shiga a matsayin malami (wanda Wills ya fara). Ya isa Birmingham a watan Oktoba daidai lokacin da ya kamata ya fara karatunsa.

Nan da nan ya fara aiki a kan trilobites musamman daga Arewacin Amurka. Ya ɗauki ɗalibi mai bincike Frank HT Rhodes (wanda daga baya ya zama Shugaban Jami'ar Cornell na tara). A shekarar 1949 ya sami wata gayyata, a wannan karon daga Jami'ar Harvard, don ya maye gurbin Preston E. Cloud, don riƙe muƙaman Mataimakin Farfesa a Sashen Geology, da kuma Mai Kula da Paleontology na Invertebrate a Gidan Tarihi na Kwatancen Dabbobi .

Bayan shekaru 17 na hidima a Amurka, a shekarar 1966 ya sake samun wata gayyata daga Jami'ar Cambridge, don zama Farfesa na Woodwardian na Geology, wanda shine shugaba mafi tsufa a fannin ilimin ƙasa a Birtaniya. A lokacin kaka, ya kasance a Cambridge, tare da naɗin haɗin gwiwa a matsayin Farfesa a Kwalejin Sidney Sussex . A shekarar 1983, yana da shekaru 67, ya yi ritaya daga aikinsa. 

### Rayuwar mutum da mutuwa
Whittington, kamar iyalansa, ya kasance Kirista a duk rayuwarsa, yana cikin Cocin Methodist. Aikinsa na farko na sana'a ya kasance kai tsaye saboda alaƙar addini. Kwalejin Judson da ke Burma da Kwalejin Mata ta Ginling da ke China cibiyoyin Kirista ne, musamman cibiyoyin da Methodist ke tallafawa.

A lokacin da yake binciken digirin digirgir a Yale, ya haɗu da Dorothy Emma Arnold (24 Oktoba 1904 - 27 Agusta 1997). Sun yi aure a ranar 10 ga Agusta 1940 a Washington DC. Ba su da 'ya'ya. Amma suna kula da 'ya'yan 'yar'uwar Whittington da ƙannen 'yan'uwan Dorothy sosai. Dorothy ba ta da lafiya sosai, musamman a ƙarshen rayuwarta, kuma ta kusan makance, jim kaɗan kafin mutuwarta.

## Manazarta