Frank Nelson Blanchard was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 herpetologist

Herpetology

Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...

, and professor of zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

. He is credited with identifying several new species, including the Broad-banded Water Snake, Nerodia fasciata confluens, and the Florida King Snake, Lampropeltis getula floridana. As well, he has been honored by having reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s and amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s named after him, including the Western Smooth Green Snake, Opheodrys vernalis blanchardi, and Blanchard's Cricket Frog, Acris crepitans blanchardi.

Born in Stoneham, Massachusetts

Stoneham, Massachusetts

Stoneham is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Its population was 21,437 at the 2010 census, down from 22,219 in 2000. The town is the birthplace of Olympic figure skating medalist Nancy Kerrigan and is the home of the Stone Zoo.- History :...

, Blanchard attained his bachelors of science in biology from Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

 in 1913, and his doctorate in zoology from the University of Michigan in 1919. Where he studied with Helen Gaige under Dr. Alexander Grant Ruthven

Alexander Grant Ruthven

Alexander Grant Ruthven was the President of the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1951.-Biography:Alexander Grant Ruthven was born in 1882. In 1906, he received a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Michigan. He worked as a professor, director of the University Museum, and Dean. He became...

. His thesis was an extensive account of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Lampropeltis, king snakes.

From 1913 until 1916 he taught zoology at Massachusetts State College in Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

. In 1918 he became an aide in the division of reptiles for the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, working under Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with reptiles and amphibians....

 until 1920, when he became a zoology professor at the University of Michigan. In 1922 he published Amphibians and Reptiles of Western Tennessee. For the year of 1927, he took a sabbatical from the University to travel to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

, primarily to study the tuatara

Tuatara

The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common...

. In 1935 he spent a summer with Howard K. Gloyd

Howard K. Gloyd

Howard Kay Gloyd was an American herpetologist who is credited with describing several new species of reptile, such as the Florida Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti...

, travelling through the southwestern United States, writing a manual of the snakes of the US, which was completed by Gloyd after his death. In 1936, he was elected vice president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists is an international organization devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology and herpetology...

. His most enduring legacy to the field of herpetology are his techniques for studying live animals in the field.