Samuel Wendell Williston

Palaeontologist and entomologist, born in Roxbury (now part of Boston), Massachusetts, USA. The leader of many Western expeditions, he published important work on Cretaceous and Permian amphibians and reptiles. Reflecting his lifelong research, he also published three editions of his classic Manual of North American Diptera (1888–1908). He taught at the University of Chicago (1902–18).

Samuel Wendell Williston (July 10, 1851 – August 30, 1918) was a noted educator and paleontologist.

As a young child, Williston's family travelled to Kansas Territory in 1857 under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company to help fight the extension of slavery. He was raised in Manhattan, Kansas, attended public high school there, and graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College in 1872.

In 1880, he matriculated to Yale University, where he spent several years as post-graduate student and member of the faculty. Williston returned to Kansas in 1890, to take a position on the faculty at the University of Kansas. In 1902, Williston left Kansas again, and took the chair of paleontology at the University of Chicago.

Williston was a fellow of the Geological Society of America and author of several books.