Helen Frances James

Helen Frances James (born May 22, 1956 in Hot Springs , Arkansas ) is an American paleontologist and paleornithologist who often carried out extensive research on the fossil and subfossil avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands together with her then husband Storrs Lovejoy Olson . She is a curator of birds in the Vertebrate Zoology Department at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC

Live and act

Helen Frances James's parents were both environmentalists . She grew up in the Ozark Mountains near Fayetteville , where she developed an early interest in natural history and archeology . As an adolescent, she spent two years with her family in Ghana . Upon her return, she enrolled at the age of 16 at the University of Arkansas , where she graduated in archeology and physical anthropology in 1977 .

After completing his studies, James worked for the National Museum of Natural History , first as assistant to Richard Zusi researching the anatomy and systematics of the hummingbirds and then with Storrs Lovejoy Olson researching the fossil avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Olson and James' research lasted over 23 years and resulted in the discovery of the fossil remains of over 50 extinct bird taxa. In 1981, Olson and James married.

In 2000, Helen Frances James received her Ph.D. in zoology from Oxford University with a dissertation on the osteology and phylogenesis of honeysuckle . In addition, she carried out research on the fossilized vertebrate fauna of Madagascar, in particular on paleoecology , comparative osteology and the phylogenesis of passerine birds as well as the evolution of water birds.

For 2019, James was awarded the William Brewster Medal .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Matthew C. Perry (ed.): The Washington Biologists' Field Club: Its Members and its History (1900-2006) . Washington Biologists' Field Club, Washington, DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-615-16259-1 , pp. 167-168 ( researchgate.net ).

Web links

• Publications by Helen F. James