I recently learned about the deaths of three people who were (and are)
influential in the study of native fishes. This probably seems a little
morbid, but I think its important to recognize the passing of great people
(Ideally we should recognize them before they pass away.).
George Moore - the famous Oklahoma ichthyologist - has an obituary in the
current Copeia. He died in 1998.
Also - I learned that Wilfred T. Neill died last week at the age of 79.
Neill met Ross Allen as a boy in 1932 and worked with him for many years.
He did research at the Ross Allen Reptile Institute and wrote extensively on
reptiles, but he also wrote about fishes. One of his most interesting and
frequently cited papers was a note about his discovery of a bowfin
aestivating in a dried ball of mud. He also wrote about crayfishes,
biogeography, and, I have been told, anthropology.
Finally - I heard on "All Things Considered" yesterday that mathematician
Claude Shannon died last weekend. He was an expert on information theory
and created an index that is still used today by community ecologists as way
of expressing diversity of a community. The story also reported that he
could juggle and ride a unicycle!
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