Muchmore said that he enjoyed the opportunity to \u201cuncover knowledge about things in the world that are not known.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was a specialist in systematic zoology\u2014the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth. He studied the relationships of pseudoscorpion species to each other and to their geographic distributions, and what this might reveal about their evolutionary adaptations.<\/p>\n
In 1970, his collection of 1,900 samples of North American pseudoscorpions, some saved in small vials and some mounted on microscope slides, was considered one of the largest in the world. He published nearly 150 papers and book chapters on pseudoscorpions, and was supported in his research with several National Science Foundation grants.<\/p>\n
He also studied embryonic development. \u201cBill was an experimental embryologist who asked how the fates of different tissues in the embryo were\u00a0determined by their locations in the developing embryo,\u201d Kaye says. \u201cHe used salamander embryos in this work\u00a0and did exquisitely delicate surgical techniques to transplant parts of embryos from one site to another.\u201d Kaye recalls collecting salamander eggs with Muchmore one spring, \u201cwading\u00a0in a pond at night with the sounds of spring around us, frogs and toads and spring peepers all calling for mates. Quite a treat for a biologist.\u201d<\/p>\n
A valued colleague and teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n Born in 1920 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Muchmore received an AB degree in zoology from Oberlin College in 1942. He served as a US Army medical laboratory technician in the Pacific during World War II, then attended Washington University in St. Louis where he received his PhD in 1950, the same year he joined the Rochester faculty.<\/p>\n Kaye, who joined the department in 1959, says his first impression \u201cwas that Bill would be both a good colleague in academic affairs and someone with a positive, likable personality who would be an excellent teacher. My subsequent experience bore out and amplified this initial impression. In fact, Bill was simply an all-round valuable member of our department.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor emeritus Stan Hattman, another colleague, says he was \u201calways impressed with [Muchmore\u2019s] insights on education and departmental political issues, which he always presented in a clear and calm voice. I’m sure that demeanor\u00a0endeared him to his students as well.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1966, Muchmore was one of 14 inaugural recipients of a newly established University award to recognize faculty members for outstanding teaching, as voted by juniors and seniors.<\/p>\n Brenna Rybak, administrator of the biology department, says she has met several of Muchmore\u2019s former students at Meliora Weekend Open Houses over the years, and received emails \u201cout of the blue\u201d from others \u2013 all interested in contacting the professor. \u201cThey have all spoken very highly and passionately about what a great teacher he was and how he affected their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Count Wendy Beth Jackelow \u201983 among them. Jackelow took Muchmore\u2019s vertebrate zoology class her junior year. But she enjoyed art classes as much as biology, and would illustrate her notebooks with detailed drawings of specimens. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Do you know there is a career in medical and scientific illustration?\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cI had no idea such a thing existed; but I knew, the minute he said it, that this was what I was meant to do.\u201d<\/p>\n After she enrolled in the medical illustration program at nearby Rochester Institute of Technology, Jackelow contacted Muchmore to brainstorm ideas for her master\u2019s thesis. He suggested that she illustrate a checklist he was preparing on the terrestrial invertebrates of the Virgin Islands. \u201cI knew I had hit the jackpot,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was exactly what I wanted to do and [he was] exactly the kind of person I wanted to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n After completing her master\u2019s degree, Jackelow worked as a medical and scientific illustrator for hospitals and a publishing company, before going into business on her own.<\/p>\n She says she thinks about Muchmore every day. After all, \u201che set the course of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Colleagues and former students remember the long-time biology professor and one of the world’s leading authorities on pseudoscorpions. Muchmore discovered and named more than 290 new species of the small arachnids in his 40-year career. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":257142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18722,3396],"class_list":["post-257092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-department-of-biology","tag-obituaries"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"illustration](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/muchmore_pseudoscorpion-Garypus-sp.jpg\")