Storrs L. Olson

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Storrs L. Olson
Born(1944-04-03)3 April 1944
Chicago, Illinois
Died20 January 2021(2021-01-20) (aged 76)
Fredericksburg, Virginia
OccupationAvian paleontologist
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1981; div. 2006)​
Johanna Rose Humphrey
​
​
(m. 2016)​

Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021

St. Helena and Hawaii. His early higher education took place at Florida State University in 1966, where he obtained a B.A. in biology, and the University of Florida, where he received an M.S. in biology. Olson's doctoral studies took place at Johns Hopkins University, in what was then the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was married to fellow paleornithologist Helen F. James
.

Early life and education

Olson was born April 4, 1944, in

Chicago, Illinois. His father was physical oceanographer Franklyn C. W. Olson. He was named after his maternal conservationist grandfather P. S. Lovejoy.[2] Franklyn worked at Ohio University's Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island. In these lacustrine surroundings, Storrs developed an interest in fish
.

In 1950, Olson's family moved to Tallahassee, Florida, when Franklyn took a job at Florida State University. Young Olson's interests shifted to ornithology at age 12. Olson graduated from Leon High School in 1962. In 1963, he moved to Panama to assist a friend with his research on fish. He would return to Panama in 1966 as an undergraduate, to study the immunology of vultures.

His higher education began at the University of Florida under the colorful Pierce Brodkorb and spurred his interest in paleornithology. He returned to Florida State in 1968 to complete his master's degree.

Career and graduate education

Olson's work in Panama attracted the attention of

Fish and Wildlife Service under Richard C. Banks the next year.[2] He then became resident manager at the Smithsonian's new Chesapeake Bay Center in Edgewater, Maryland
.

The center had connections to

Sc.D.
in 1972.

By August 1971 he was working at the NMNH on a predoctoral fellowship. He wrote on fossil rails for a 1977 monograph by Sidney Dillon Ripley. In March 1975, he was made curator of the Division of Birds.

In 1976 he met his future wife

Bahamas, which gave evidence that this hummingbird is a valid and distinct species.[7]

In November 1999, Olson wrote an open letter to the

albinistic specimen of the grey trembler.[9]

Personal life

Olson was married to his long-time colleague Helen F. James from 1981 until their divorce in 2006.[10]

Honors

Olson has been decorated as one of the world's foremost paleornithologists.[11] He was also the 1994 recipient of the Loye and Alden Miller Research Award.[12] He was formerly curator of birds at the United States National Museum of Natural History; as of 2009, he held an emeritus position in the institution.[13]

Several prehistoric bird species have been named after Olson, including

Storrsia olsoni has its binomial derived from and honouring Olson, who collected the type off Brazil.[20]

References

  1. ^ Obituary: Storrs Lovejoy Olson In: The Free-Lance Star on January 2021, 27. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-615-16259-1
    .
  3. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.23.1
    .
  4. ^ "Helen F. James". National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05.
  5. JSTOR 40166794
    .
  6. hdl:2246/3097
    .
  7. doi:10.1093/auk/104.2.296
    .
  8. ^ Luis Sanz, José; Ortega, Francisco (16 February 2000). "El 'escándalo archaeoraptor'" [The Archaeoraptor scandal]. El País (in Spanish).
  9. hdl:10088/1564
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-615-16259-1
    .
  11. ^ "Loye and Alden Miller Research Award Recipients – Storrs Olson". Archived from the original on August 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
  12. ^ "Loye and Alden Miller Research Award Recipients". Archived from the original on August 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-18.. Cooper Ornithological Society
  13. ^ "Birds Staff, Division of Birds, NMNH". Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  14. ^ Bourne, W. R. P., Ashmole, N. P. & Simmons K. E. L. (2003). "A new subfossil night heron and a new genus for the extinct rail from Ascension Island, central tropical Atlantic Ocean" (PDF). Ardea. 91 (1): 45–51.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. JSTOR 40166673
    .
  16. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00741.x
    .
  17. ^ Feduccia, A. & Martin, L. D. (1976). "The Eocene zygodactyl birds of North America (Aves: Piciformes)". Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. 27: 101–110.
  18. S2CID 85677509
    .
  19. ^ Mourer-Cliauviré, C. (1989). "Les Caprimulgiformes et les Coraciiformes de l'Éocène et de l'Oligocène des phosphorites du Quercy et description de deux genres nouveaux de Podargidae et Nyctibiidae" [Caprimulgiformes and Coraciiformes of the Eocene and Oligocene in phosphorites form Quercy and description of two new genera of Podargidae and Nyctibiidae]. Acta Congr. Int. Ornithol. (in French). 19: 2047–2055.
  20. ^ Christopher Scharpf; Kenneth J. Lazara (29 January 2019). "Order BLENNIIFORMES: Families TRIPTERYGIIDAE and DACTYLOSCOPIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 6 May 2019.

External links

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