Sherman A Minton

Vocation

Family

American physician, herpetologist and toxinologist, who conducted the earliest detailed modern studies of amphibians and reptiles in Pakistan. He was the son of United States Senator and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Sherman Minton. As a child in the 1930s, Sherman Junior was already collecting reptiles near his home and learning their scientific names. He wanted to study herpetology, but his father insisted on law or medicine, and he chose medicine, enrolling at Indiana University Bloomington and obtaining his B.S. degree in 1939. Sherman then transferred to Indiana University Medical School and received his M.D. in 1942. Sherman A Minton Jr authored more than 200 books and papers on the herpetofaunas of Texas, Mexico, Central America and Pakistan, as well as papers on the seasnakes of the Asia-Pacific region, and snake venoms, especially the effects of bites from rear-fanged venomous snakes. He met Madge Alice Shortridge Rutherford (1920–2004) at Bloomington in November 1937, when she introduced herself with the remark "I understand you collect snakes". They became friends but did not marry until October 1943 because of World War Two. Madge worked as Sherman's field assistant, did his library research, cared for his live reptile collection and learned to milk venomous snakes for his research into venoms. The couple also collaborated on two popular books: Venomous Reptiles in 1971, and Giant Reptiles in 1973. Sherman A. Minton Jr. died on 15 June 1999, aged 80. His autobiography, Life, Love, and Reptiles, was published posthumously in 2001. Link to Wikipedia biography