Smith (born September 30, 1950) is Professor Emeritus at Western Kentucky University (WKU).
He is best known for his work as a historian/philosopher and bibliographer of science, especially for his expertise on the career of Alfred Russel Wallace.
Smith was born in Winsted, Connecticut, and grew up in the nearby town of New Hartford.
Since his undergraduate college years he has lived in Georgia, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Australia, Pennsylvania, and, from 1995, Bowling Green, Kentucky.
He created and maintains the website The Alfred Russel Wallace Page hosted by WKU and devoted to Wallace scholarship, which includes a comprehensive bibliography of Wallace's publications and interviews, texts of Wallace's works, and writings on Wallace by Smith and others.
He has also created and maintains three well known sites on music education hosted by WKU: The 111 Greatest Acts of the Anglo-American Folk Music Tradition, The Classical Music Navigator, and Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems.
In April 2013 Smith was a recipient of the national President's Call to Service Award, given to individuals who over their lifetime have volunteered at least 4000 hours of their time to public service, for his "website development for global awareness and education."
Smith received a B.A.
(1972) in Geology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; M.A.
(1980), in Geography, Indiana University; Ph.D.
(1984), in Geography (emphasis: Biogeography; minor: History & Philosophy of Science), University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; M.L.S.