Frank Knowlton

Frank Hall Knowlton (September 2, 1860 - November 22, 1926) was an American botanist, ornithologist and naturalist.

Born in Vermont, he joined the Geological Survey and took an interest in fossil plants in the local lignite, later becoming a specialist in paleobotany.

He went to study at Middlebury College where he took an interest in natural history, influenced by Ezra Brainerd and Henry M. Seely.

He visited the US National Museum in Washington in 1884, while preparing an exhibit for the World Cotton Centennial in New Orleans and came in contact with palaeobotanist Lester F. Ward there.

He later became an assistant to Ward on the Geology Survey, during which time he studied fossil wood in the lignites of the Potomac.