Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches
Boulenger, George Albert (Belgium-England
1858-1937)
ichthyology, herpetology
from Wikipedia.org |
Boulenger is probably history's pre-eminent taxonomist of the lower vertebrates.
Although not a great innovator insofar as the method of systematics goes--some
of his best known work was based on suggestions made by Cope and others--he
had personal and intellectual qualities that made him ideally suited for
taxonomic studies. Importantly, he spoke several languages and had a reading
knowledge of several others. He also apparently had an astounding memory
and knew just about the entire literature on his subject by heart (it
was said that from memory and without referral he could on the spot identify--and
provide natural history details on--specimens of any known fish, reptile
or amphibian species brought to him). In all he described more than 2500
species of lower vertebrates in some nine hundred works by the time of
his retirement (after which, for reasons unknown, he occupied himself
with studies on roses). Boulenger, for all this craft, was also a contributing
theorist, frequently using his taxonomic studies as the basis for posing
particular evolutionary and/or zoogeographical hypotheses. He is especially
remembered for his work on African forms. |
Life Chronology
--born in Brussels, Belgium, on 19 October 1858.
--1876: graduates from the Free University in Brussels with a degree in
natural sciences
--1881: asked to work at the British Museum
--1882: publishes his Catalogue of the Batrachia... in two volumes,
with A. C. L. G. Günther
--1882-1920: works as first-class assistant in the zoology department
at the British Museum
--1885-1887: publishes his Catalogue of the Lizards in the British
Museum (Natural History), in three volumes
--1894: elected to the Royal Society of London
--1895: publishes his Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum
--1897: selected by King Leopold II of Belgium to chair a committee
helping to organize a Belgian Congo museum
--1905: publishes "The
Distribution of African Fresh-water Fishes" in Nature
--1909-1916: publishes his Catalogue
of the Fresh-water Fishes of Africa in the British Museum (Natural History)...,
in four volumes
--1920: retires from the British Museum
--1920: publishes his Monograph
of the Lacertidae, in two volumes
--1921: publishes paper in Nature on the first eyeless, unpigmented
cave fish discovered in Africa
--1924-1932: publishes his Les Roses d'Europe de l'Herbier Crépin,
in two volumes
--1937: honored with the Belgian Order of Leopold
--dies at Saint Malo, France, on 23 November 1937.
For Additional
Information, See:
--Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society,
Vol. 3 (for 1939-1941): 13-17.
--Proceedings of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 73(6)
(1939): 132-133.
--Copeia (1) (1938): pp. 1-3.
--Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'État, Bruxelles, Vol.
15(1) (1938): 1-24. [in French]
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Copyright 2005 by Charles H. Smith. All rights
reserved.
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/BOUL1858.htm
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