Harold Orville Whitnall (August 3, 1877 – May 18, 1945) was an American geology professor and politician from Hamilton, New York.
[1] Whitnall graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York with a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1900 and a Master of Arts in 1909.
He also maintained a consulting practice for a number of important clients and served as chief geologist for the New York, Ontario and Western Railway.
He wrote a number of papers, articles, and books, including "Dawn of Mankind" and "Dinosaurs and their World" in 1924 and "A Parade of Ancient Animals" in 1936.
In December 1944, he claimed that B-29 bombs dropped in or near Japanese volcanos caused a tidal wave that occurred there during that time, although Father Joseph Lynch, Fordham University's chief seismologist, called the theory "utterly fantastic.