John Van Denburgh

John Van Denburgh is a American zoologist , born the August 23rd 1872 with San Francisco and dead the October 24th 1924 with Honolulu.

Impassioned as of its young age by the Ornithology, it makes its studies at the new university Stanford. It obtains its Bachelor there off Arts in 1894, its Master off Arts in 1895 and its Doctorat off Philosophy in 1897. It is one of its professors, Charles Henry Gilbert (1859-1928), that it makes him discover the Reptile S.

In 1894, he becomes assistant with the Academy of Science of California. The following year, it becomes preserving, a function which it occupies until its death. It gathers an immense collection of reptiles and Amphibians of North America but this one is destroyed at the time of the earthquake of April 1906 and by the fire which sensuit. While taking great personal risks, Van Denburgh manages to save only 13 specimens (almost all the Holotype S) on a total of 8.100. Van Denburgh starts again this collection while profiting in particular from the important collection carried out in the Galapagos by Joseph Richard Slevin (1881-1957) in the years 1905-1906.

When the natural history museum is installed in its current buildings in the Park of the Golden delicious Spoils in 1915, its herpetologic collections count more than 50.000 specimens.

It commits suicide in Honolulu at 52 years.

Source

Kraig Adler (1989). Contributions to the History off Herpetology , Society for the study off amphibians and reptiles.

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