George Albert Boulenger

George Albert Boulenger (* October 19, 1858 in Brussels, Belgium, † November 23, 1937 in Saint Malo, France) was a British zoologist and ichthyologist.

Life and work

Boulenger was the only son of the Belgian notary Gustave Boulenger and Juliette PIERART de Valenciennes. In 1876 he completed his studies in natural sciences at the Free University in Brussels and worked for a time as a research assistant at the Natural History Museum in Brussels. During this time he dealt with the study of amphibians, reptiles and fish. He also had close contacts with the Muséum national d' histoire naturelle in Paris and the British Museum in London.

In 1880 he was asked by Albert Günther, to work at the Natural History Museum in London, and there to catalog the amphibian collection. Boulenger British citizen was through this job. In 1882 he was a research assistant in the zoological department of the museum and retained this position until his retirement in 1920.

After his retirement to Boulenger interested in roses and published 34 writings on botanical subjects and a two -volume work on the roses of Europe.

Boulenger played violin, spoke German, French and English and was able to read texts in Spanish, Italian and Russian. As a zoologist, he also had knowledge of Latin and Greek.

His approach is considered to be very methodical, also they say Boulenger an excellent memory after.

By 1921, Boulenger has 877 fonts together with over 5000 pages and 19 monographs on fishes, amphibians and reptiles. He provided the scientific description of 1096 species of fish, 556 species of amphibians and 872 species of reptiles.

Boulenger son Edward George Boulenger (1888-1946) was also a noted herpetologist and 1924-1943 Director of the London Zoo aquarium.

Honors

In 1935, he became the first Honorary Member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. In 1937 the Leopold Award, the highest award a civilian in Belgium.

According to him, several animal species have been named, including the snake genus Boulengerina to the Congo water cobra ( Boulengerina christyi ) belongs and the amphibian genus Boulengerula from the group of caecilians with the way Boulengerula boulengeri.

Publications - Excerpt -

Online books in the Internet Archive