J. L. B. Smith

James Leonard Brierley Smith ( born October 26, 1897 in Graaff -Reinet, † January 7, 1968 ) was a South African zoologist and ichthyologist.

Smith received his Master of Science in Chemistry at the University of Stellenbosch and completed his doctorate at the University of Cambridge for Philosophiae Doctor. Subsequently he lectured in chemistry at Rhodes University; at a spa by the sea, he discovered his interest in ichthyology and moved subsequently to this field.

In December 1938, he examined the first scientist discovered by Marjorie Courtenay - Latimer in East London in the catch of a fishing trawler coelacanth and was also 1952/53, involved in the successful expeditions to capture additional copies in the Comoros. In the years up to 1949, he co-authored with his second wife Margaret Mary McDonald his main work Sea Fishes of South Africa, which among other things over 370 fish species first described comprehensively. The work was updated in subsequent years over again.

On January 7, 1968 Smith committed suicide after a long illness, suicide by taking cyanide. Margaret McDonald later founded the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology (now the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity ) at Rhodes University. Smith's son William now works as a chemist and scientific television presenter.

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