Maurice Cole Tanquary

Dr. Maurice Cole Tanquary (November 26, 1881 - October 25, 1944) was a professor of entomology, a member of the Crocker Land Expedition and is considered to be a pioneer in modern beekeeping.

Tanquary was the son of Thomas J. and Florence A. Tanquaary and was raised on a farm near Lawrenceville, Illinois, where he attended public schools. He then attended Vincennes University where he was a member of Tau Phi Delta society and was one of the authors of the society's first constitution and by-laws. He graduated in 1903 and taught for four years in the public schools of Lawrence County, Illinois. He then enrolled at the University of Illinois where he received his AB degree in 1907, his MA in 1908, and PhD in 1912. From 1908 to 1909 he served as a part-time assistant to the State Entomologist of Illinois. During the summer of 1910 he studied at Harvard University and during the summer of 1911 he was a field agent for the State Entomologist of Minnesota. While at Illinois he was a founder of the Ionian Literary Society and a charter member of the Acacia (Masonic) fraternity where he was the national treasurer from 1908-1909.

After earning his doctorate he became a professor of agriculture at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1913 where he was given leave to join the Crocker Land Expedition as a zoologist later that year.

As the zoologist for the expedition, Tanquary was not involved in the final push to find the island from the village of Etah in northern Greenland. Instead, he and fellow Illinois alumnus Walter Elmer Ekblaw were stationed at a Danish trading post 120 miles to the south. They became stranded there after Ekblaw was struck with snow blindess and almost ran out of food in 1914. They were rescued just in time in August and returned to Etah.

...
Wikipedia