Robert L. Rudd

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Robert L. Rudd (born September 18, 1921 in Los Angeles , † November 4, 2003 in Stockton ) was an American zoologist. His best-known work is “Pesticides and the Living Landscape”, published in 1964, in which he dealt with the effects of pesticides on the environment.

biography

Robert Rudd grew up in Salinas, California and Boulder Creek . His grandfather gave him the pleasure of observing nature. Before he began his studies at Salinas Junior College (now Hartnell College) and UC Berkeley , he had a solid background in natural history.

After completing his undergraduate studies , he enlisted in April 1942 for service with the United States Army Air Forces . As a pilot of a B-24 bomber, he flew numerous missions in the Pacific War and received several awards.

After the war ended, Rudd returned to Berkeley, where he earned a doctorate in zoology. From 1952 he worked for the University of California at Davis , where he initially held field internships in ornithology and mammal studies. He also offered a course on ecology in tropical latitudes.

Robert Rudd began in 1958 with the work on a book about the environmental impact of pesticides . In it, he came to essentially the same conclusions as Rachel Carson , who started work on Silent Spring around the same time . Rudd and Carson knew each other and were in lively exchange, some chapters in “The Silent Spring” are said to be based on Rudd's work. After Rudds Verlag declined to print, he tried to get it published by the University of Wisconsin Press. A total of 18 expert opinions on the scientific correctness of the work were obtained there. This delayed the appearance of "Pesticides and the Living Landscape" by three years until 1964, two years after the appearance of "The Silent Spring". “Pesticides and the Living Landscape” was discussed more than 200 times, mostly positively, after its publication. The book has been reprinted several times. It was written in sober, "scientific" language and is considered a good example of interdisciplinary thinking. Robert Rudd was passed over for a promotion in 1964 and lost his position at the Agricultural Research Institute at Davis University.

Rudd later specialized in the study of mammals in the rainforests of Malaysia, Costa Rica and New Guinea.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Böschen: Riskogenesis - Processes of Societal Risk Perception: CFC, DDT, Dioxin and Ecological Chemistry . Leske + Budrich, Opladen, 2003, ISBN 3-8100-2691-3
  2. ↑ John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark: Rachel Carson's Ecological Critique
  3. ↑ Peggy B. Perazzo: Robert L. RUDD (1921-2003) on ancestry.com.uk
personal data
SURNAME Rudd, Robert L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rudd, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 2003
Place of death Stockton (California)