Biswamoy Biswas

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

Live and act

Biswas was the son of a geology professor. In 1947 he received a three-year scholarship from the Zoological Survey of India . This allowed him to study at the British Museum in London, with Erwin Stresemann in Berlin and with Ernst Mayr in New York. Through his work at the American Museum of Natural History , Biswas has contributed to a better understanding of the Indian taxa from the family of the parrot and shrike . After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Calcutta Biswas was entrusted with 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 a retired scientist. In 1953 Biswas published a modern generic concept in his work "A Check-List of Genera of Indian Birds", which is the basis for all subsequent taxonomic treatises on the avifauna of the Indian subcontinent . Biswas also wrote about bird anatomy, particularly the vascular system and mammalian taxonomy. One of his main works is "The Birds of Nepal", of which twelve volumes were published between 1960 and 1967. In addition to Salim Ali and Sidney Dillon Ripley , he was co-author of the work "Birds of Bhutan", which was published in 1995. The rose-headed parakeet ( Psittacula roseata ) is one of the first scientific descriptions by Biswas .

As a passionate conservationist, Biswas helped set up the Salt Lakes and Narendrapur Wildlife Sanctuaries near Kolkata. He was also involved in conventions of the International Council for Bird Preservation (now BirdLife International ). Biswas was editor-in-chief of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of Calcutta for several years.

Memberships and honors

In 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 organizes the International Ornithological Congresses. The Asiatic Society awarded him the Joy Govinda Law Memorial Medallion in 1975. 1981 Subhendu Sekhar Saha named the Namdapha flying squirrel ( Biswamoyopterus biswasi ) in honor of Biswamoy Biswas.

literature

• Ernst Mayr : In Memoriam Biswamoy Biswas, 1923-1994 . In: The Auk . tape 117 , no. 4 , 2000, pp. 1030 ( online [PDF; 89 kB ; accessed on August 12, 2011]).