Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson (born August 28, 1908 in Jamestown (New York) , † July 28, 1996 in Old Lyme , Connecticut ) was an American ornithologist , naturalist and illustrator.
Life
Peterson lost his father, who immigrated from Sweden, at an early age and initially worked as a sales representative. He was already interested in bird watching at school and studied painting and drawing in New York City at the Art Students League (1927–1928) and the National Academy of Design (1929–1931). He made contact with other ornithologists and became a teacher of drawing and science at the Rivers School in Brookline, Massachusetts .
In 1925 his first essay on ornithology and in 1934 his book Guide to the Birds was published by Houghton Mifflin, which shaped the genre and became a bestseller (2000 copies were sold in the first week alone), and appeared in several editions over several decades many more identification books of his should follow. He drew most of the illustrations himself and also developed a number of Peterson Field Guides in other areas and a Peterson Identification System named after him, which was intended for amateur nature watchers and for remote identification. In Germany he is best known as the co-author of The Birds of Europe for Parey-Verlag.
Dedication names and honors
He received multiple honorary doctorates, received the Eisenmann Medal of the Linnean Society of New York and in 1980 the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Dutch Order of the Golden Ark . An institute founded in 1984 in Jamestown is named after him, whose primary purpose is educational and is intended to continue Peterson's life's work, and the American Birding Association presents the Roger Tory Peterson Award from 2000. In 1996 John W. Fitzpatrick honored Peterson in the type epithet of the cinnamon screech owl ( Otus petersoni ).
Fonts
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (Houghton Mifflin, fifth edition. 2002, earlier editions 1934, 1939, 1941, 1947, 1980, 1994)
- The Field Guide Art of Roger Tory Peterson , 2 volumes, Easton Press, 1990
- with Anthony W. Diamond , Rudolf L. Schreiber , Walter Cronkite : Save the Birds , Houghton Mifflin '1987
- Peterson First Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America , Houghton Mifflin '1986
- Peterson First Guide to Birds of North America , Houghton Mifflin '1986
- with Virginia Peterson: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio , Abbeville Press' 1981
- Penguins , Houghton Mifflin '1979
- Birds of America , National Audubon Society, 1978
- with Edward Chalif: A Field Guide to Mexican Birds , Houghton Mifflin, 1973 (Spanish edition 1989)
- with Margaret McKenny: A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America , Houghton Mifflin '1968
- with James Fisher : The World of Birds , Doubleday '1964
- A Field Guide to Western Birds , Houghton Mifflin, 1941, reprinted 1961
- A Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Adjacent States , Houghton Mifflin '1960, reprinted 1963
- A Bird-Watcher's Anthology , Harcourt Brace '1957
- with James Fisher: Wild America , Houghton Mifflin, 1955
- with Guy Mountfort , PAD Hollom : A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe , William Collins 1954 (new edition with James Ferguson-Lees , D. Ian M. Wallace 1965 and more)
- German edition: The birds of Europe , Paul Parey publishing house, Hamburg and Berlin, 9th edition 1970, ISBN 3-490-05518-7 .
- Wildlife in Color , Houghton Mifflin '1951
- How to Know the Birds , Houghton Mifflin '1949
- Birds Over America , Dodd, Mead and Company '1948, reprinted 1964
- A Field Guide to Western Birds , Houghton Mifflin ‚1941, reprinted 1961‚ 1990
- with John H. Baker: The Audubon Guide to Attracting Birds , National Audubon Society '1941
literature
- Elizabeth Rosenthal: Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson , The Lyons Press 2008
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Peterson, Roger Tory |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 28, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jamestown (New York) |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 28, 1996 |
| Place of death | Old Lyme , Connecticut |