Gerard Frederick van Tets
Gerard Frederick van Tets ( born January 19, 1929 in London, † January 14, 1995 in Canberra, Australia), also known as Jerry van Tets, was an English, Canadian and Australian ornithologist and paleontologist. His research included cormorants, petrels and other waterfowl.
Life and work
After studying at the University of British Columbia van Tets Ph.D. earned his doctorate in 1963. In November 1963, he married in Vancouver, British Columbia Patrice Anne Johnston. After his marriage he moved to Australia and joined the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology in Canberra at. Gerard Frederick van Tets first operational studies on the impact of bird strikes on airfields. Later, he joined the staff at the Australian National Wildlife Collection. Van Tets described some subfossil bird species, including hunteri the penguin Tasidyptes. The Tasman booby (Sula dactylatra tasmani ), which was originally known only by bone material has been synonymized in 2009 with the recent Masked Booby Sula subspecies dactylatra fullagari of Lord Howe Island. The extinct New Zealand breeds of ducks Oxyura vantetsi has been named after him.