Sidney Dillon Ripley

Sidney Dillon Ripley ( born September 20, 1913 in New York City; † 12 March 2001 Washington DC) was an American ornithologist and conservationist. From 1964 to 1984 he was Director ( Secretary ) of the Smithsonian Institution.

Life and work

Ripley's great-grandfather was the railroad entrepreneur Sidney Dillon, who was twice president of the Union Pacific Railroad. At the age of 13 years, Sidney Dillon Ripley took with his sister a trip to India, Ladakh and in the western Tibet, which led to a lifelong interest in the Indian avifauna. After training at the St. Paul 's School in Concord, New Hampshire, he graduated in 1936 as Bachelor of Arts in Law at Yale University. As Ripley in birds more interest showed, as in law, he subsequently completed a zoology degree at Columbia University. In 1936 he took part in a zoological expedition to New Guinea. In 1943 he earned his Ph.D. in Zoology at Harvard University.

From 1942 to 1945 Ripley worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS ), the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was responsible for the training of Indonesian spies who all lost their lives during the war. In an article in The New Yorker magazine from August 26, 1950 Ripley's work has been described as a reversal of the usual scheme where spies themselves off as ornithologists, to gain access to sensitive areas. Instead, Ripley used his position as an intelligence officer to go into restricted areas on bird watching. For his support of the Thai underground Ripley was awarded by the Thai government with a national award. During his time with the OSS Sidney Dillon Ripley met Mary Livingston, whom he married in 1949.

1947 Ripley went to Nepal. He became a close friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and diplomatic relations between Nepal and the independent state of India allowed him to collect birds in the region. However, when Nehru was informed of OSS article in The New Yorker, Ripley was declared India's public enemy number one. The work of Salim Ali, Ripley co-author of the works Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan and Birds of Bhutan, has been hampered. Thanks to the mediation of Horace Alexander, a confidant of Nehru and Gandhi, but the matter was settled. Ripley's OSS past had ensured that scientists in India came under the suspicion of being CIA agents. David Challinor, a former administrator of the Smithsonian explained that many CIA agents working in India and that some of them claiming to be a scientist. He further explained that the Smithsonian a scientist for anthropological research to India sent, the Tibetan refugees from the Chinese occupied Tibet interviewed simultaneously but also confirmed that there was no evidence that Ripley worked for the CIA after the OSS had left in 1945.

1938 Ripley joined with the American Ornithologists ' Union. In 1942 he was elected member and 1951, he was appointed Fellow. Between 1946 and 1964 he taught at Yale University, in 1950 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1954 and a Guggenheim Fellowship. After his appointment as a professor, he was from 1960 to 1964 director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.

Ripley worked for many years in the management of the World Wildlife Fund. From 1958 to 1982 he was the third President of the International Council for Bird Preservation ( now Birdlife International). From 1964 to 1984 he held the office of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1967 he was one of the founders of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1970 and co-founded the Smithsonian Magazine.

Honors

1966 Ripley was awarded the Gold Medal of the New York Zoological Society. In 1985, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian awards, he was awarded in the United States. In addition, Ripley received an honorary doctorates from 15 colleges and universities, including Brown University, Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and the University of Cambridge in England. The S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institution bears his name. The following taxa are named after Ripley: the Mangaia - Rail ( Gallirallus ripleyi ) Neocrex columbiana ripleyi ( subspecies of Colombia swamp hen ), Collocalia Linchi ripleyi ( subspecies of Linchisalangane ) Oligura castaneocoronata ripleyi ( subspecies of Rotkopftesia ), Pitta Guajana ripleyi ( subspecies of Bindenpittas ), Coracina mindanensis ripleyi ( subspecies of the Philippines crawler catcher ) and Phodilus badius ripleyi ( subspecies of Maskeneule ).

Discount

Ripley intended to publish a comprehensive reference book on South Asian avifauna. However, he fell ill before he could complete this project. Ripley's assistant, Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C. Anderton Illustrator named in 2005 the first two volumes of her work Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide in honor of Sidney Dillon Ripley. 2012, a second revised edition was published in this book.

Writings (selection )

  • Search for the spiny babbler; An adventure in Nepal. Houghton Mifflin CO., LTD. (1952)
  • A Paddling of Ducks. Harcourt, Brace, and Co. (1957 )
  • A Synopsis of the Birds of India and Pakistan together with Those of Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ceylon. Bombay Natural History Society. (1961)
  • The Land and Wildlife of Tropical Asia ( 1964; series: LIFE Nature Library)
  • Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, with Salim Ali (10 volumes, 1968-1974 )
  • The Sacred Grove: Essays on Museums, Smithsonian Institution Press (1969 )
  • Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae (1977 )
  • A Pictorial Guide to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, with Salim Ali (1983 )
  • Birds of Bhutan, with Salim Ali and Biswamoy Biswas (1996 )
Oriental Bay Owl Digital Object Identifier Spencer Fullerton Baird Charles Greeley Abbot Alexander Wetmore G. Wayne Clough Integrated Authority File
240458
de