Storrs L. Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson[1] (born April 3, 1944[1] in Chicago, Illinois) is an American biologist and ornithologist from the Smithsonian Institution. He is one of the world's foremost avian paleontologists.[2] He achieved a BSc in biology 1965 and a DSc in paleornithology in 1969, at the faculty of biology of Johns Hopkins University.
An appointment with Alexander Wetmore in 1967 led him to his main research field of paleornithology[1] and to his work on Ascension Island and Saint Helena where he made remarkable discoveries in the 1970s, including the Saint Helena hoopoe[3] and the Saint Helena crake.[3] In 1976 he met his future wife Helen F. James[1] who later became another known paleornithologist herself, focusing on Late Quaternary prehistoric birds.[4]
During their pioneering research work on Hawaii, which lasted 23 years, Olson and James found and described the remains of 50 extinct bird species new to science, including the nēnē-nui,[5] the moa-nalos[5] the apteribises,[5] and the Grallistrix "stilt-owls".[5] He was also one of the authors of the description of the extinct rodent Noronhomys vespuccii.[6] In 1982, he discovered subfossil bones of the long ignored Brace's emerald on the Bahamas, which gave evidence that this hummingbird is a valid and distinct species.[7] In November 1999, Olson wrote an open letter to the National Geographic Society, in which he criticized Christopher P. Sloan's claims about the dinosaur-to-bird transition which referred to the fake species Archaeoraptor.[8] In 2000, he helped to resolve the mystery of Necropsar leguati from the World Museum Liverpool, which turned out to be an albinistic specimen of the grey trembler.[9]
Olson was the 1994 recipient of the Loye and Alden Miller Research Award.[10] He was formerly curator of birds at the United States National Museum of Natural History; as of 2009[update], he holds an emeritus position in the institution.[11]
Several prehistoric bird species named after Storrs Olson, including Nycticorax olsoni,[12] Himantopus olsoni,[13] Puffinus olsoni[14] Primobucco olsoni,[15] Gallirallus storrsolsoni,[16] and Quercypodargus olsoni.[17]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Washington Biologists' Field Club: its members and its history (1900–2006). The Washington Biologists’ Field Club, 2007, ISBN 978-0-615-16259-1
- ↑ Loye and Alden Miller Research Award Recipients – Storrs Olson at the Wayback Machine (archived August 14, 2007). Cooper Ornithological Society
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Helen F. James. National Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian Institution
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ El 'escándalo archaeoraptor' José Luis Sanz y Francisco Ortega. El País, 16 February 2000
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Loye and Alden Miller Research Award Recipients at the Wayback Machine (archived August 14, 2007). Cooper Ornithological Society
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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