Biswamoy Biswas

Biswamoy Biswas ( born June 2, 1923 in Calcutta, † 10 August 1994 ) was an Indian ornithologist and conservationist. His research focus was the scheme of the Indian and Nepalese avifauna.

Life and work

Biswas was the son of a geology professor. In 1947, he received a three-year grant from the Zoological Survey of India. This allowed him the British Museum in London to study with Erwin Stresemann in Berlin and Ernst Mayr in New York. Former member of the American Museum of Natural History Biswas has contributed to a better understanding of the Indian taxa from the family of parrots authentics and the Strangler. After his Promovierung to the Ph.D. at the University of Calcutta, Biswas was in charge of the Department of Birds and Mammals in the government organization Zoological Survey of India ( ZSI). Later, until his retirement in 1981, he was co-director of ZSI. Until 1986 he was an emeritus scientist. Biswas in 1953 in his work " A Check- List of Genera of Indian Birds" a modern genus concept, which is the basis for all subsequent taxonomic papers on the avifauna of the Indian subcontinent. Biswas also wrote about the bird anatomy, in particular via the vascular system and the Säugetiertaxonomie. One of his major works is " The Birds of Nepal ", published by the 1960-1967 twelve volumes. Besides Salim Ali and Dillon Ripley Sidney he was co - author of the work "Birds of Bhutan ", which was published in 1995. One of the first descriptions of scientific Biswas is one of the rose head Parakeet ( Psittacula roseata ).

As a passionate conservationist Biswas worked with near Kolkata in the construction of the Salt Lakes and Narendrapur Wildlife Sanctuaries. He was also ( now Birdlife International) participated in congresses of the International Council for Bird Preservation. Biswas was for some years editor of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Calcutta.

Memberships and Honors

1948 Biswas became a member of the American Ornithologists ' Union and in 1953 he was elected a corresponding member. In 1958 he became a member of the International Ornithological Committee, which hosts the International Ornithological Congress. The Asiatic Society honored him in 1975 with the Joy Govinda Law Memorial Medallion. 1981 named Subhendu Sekhar Saha the Namdapha flying squirrel ( Biswamoyopterus biswasi ) in honor of Biswamoy Biswas.