PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: ecology
primatologist, conservationist, and educator
Biruté Galdikas is a primatologist, conservationist, and educator who, having dedicated more than half a century to the study of orangutans in Indonesian Borneo, is credited with conducting the longest-running...
first lady of the United States
Lady Bird Johnson was an American first lady (1963–69), the wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States, and an environmentalist noted for her emphasis on beautification. The daughter...
45th vice president of the United States
Al Gore is an American politician and environmental activist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States (1993–2001) in the Democratic administration of President Bill Clinton. In the 2000...
Scottish-born American naturalist
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, writer, and advocate of U.S. forest conservation, who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park,...
Indian scientist
M.S. Swaminathan was an Indian geneticist and agricultural scientist who spearheaded India’s agricultural transformation. Known as the “father of the green revolution” in India, he collaborated with American...
Australian wildlife conservationist and television personality
Steve Irwin was an Australian wildlife conservationist, television personality, and educator who achieved worldwide fame as the exuberant host of The Crocodile Hunter (1992–2006) television series and...
Canadian environmental activist
Paul Watson is a Canadian American environmental activist who founded (1977) the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization that sought to protect marine wildlife. Watson exhibited an early affinity...
Canadian scientist, television personality, author, and activist
David Suzuki is a Canadian scientist, television personality, author, and environmental activist who is known for his ability to make scientific and environmental issues relatable to the public, especially...
American naturalist, conservationist, and writer
Margaret Murie was an American naturalist, conservationist, and writer who was a central contributor in efforts to establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, which earned her the popular...
Mexican ecologist and environmentalist
Julia Carabias Lillo is a Mexican ecologist and environmentalist who served as Mexico’s secretary of the environment, natural resources, and fisheries from 1994 to 2000. Carabias earned both bachelor’s...
American botanist and ecologist
Emma Lucy Braun was an American botanist and ecologist best known for her pioneering work in plant ecology and for her advocacy of natural area conservation. Her classic book, Deciduous Forests of Eastern...
Australian zoologist
Tim Flannery is an Australian zoologist and outspoken environmentalist who was named Australian of the Year in 2007 in recognition of his role as an effective communicator in explaining environmental issues...
Indonesian conservationist
Aleta Baun is an Indonesian conservationist who was awarded the 2013 Goldman Environmental Prize for her successful efforts to halt the ecologically destructive practices of the mining industry in the...
American conservationist
Gifford Pinchot was a pioneer of U.S. forestry and conservation and a public official. Pinchot graduated from Yale in 1889 and studied at the National Forestry School in Nancy, France, and in Switzerland,...
prime minister of Norway
Gro Harlem Brundtland is a Norwegian politician who was the first female prime minister of Norway, serving for three terms (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96), and later was director general of the World Health...
American activist
Julia Butterfly Hill is an American activist known for having lived in a tree for 738 days in an act of civil disobedience to prevent clear-cutting of ecologically significant forests. From December 10,...
Indian journalist and scholar
Anil Kumar Agarwal was an Indian journalist and scholar best known for his work as one of the country’s most prominent and respected environmental activists. He was the founder and director of the Centre...
American biologist
Rachel Carson was an American biologist well known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. Carson early developed a deep interest in the natural world. She entered...
American zoologist
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who became the world’s leading authority on the mountain gorilla. Fossey trained to become an occupational therapist at San Jose State College and graduated in 1954....
Brazilian labor leader and conservationist
Chico Mendes was a Brazilian labour leader and conservationist who defended the interests of the seringueiros, or rubber tree tappers, in the Amazonian state of Acre, calling for land reform and preservation...
Zambian environmentalist
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga is a Zambian environmentalist who helped fight wildlife poaching in Zambia by creating new economic opportunities in poverty-stricken villages. Simwinga was named for Dag Hammarskjöld,...
American engineer, naturalist, and educator
Theodore Jesse Hoover was an American mining engineer, naturalist, educator, and the elder brother of U.S. Pres. Herbert Hoover (author of this biography). Hoover was the oldest of three children born...
American botanist
Albert Spear Hitchcock was a U.S. botanist and specialist on the taxonomy of the world’s grasses who developed the practice of using type specimens (or holotypes) for plant nomenclature. During his student...
British conservationist and artist
Sir Peter Markham Scott was a British conservationist and artist. He founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust (1946; renamed the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) and helped establish the World Wildlife Fund (1961;...
American scholar
George Perkins Marsh was a U.S. diplomat, scholar, and conservationist whose greatest work, Man and Nature (1864), was one of the most significant advances in geography, ecology, and resource management...
British philanthropist
Octavia Hill was a leader of the British open-space movement, which resulted in the foundation (1895) of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. She was also a housing reformer...
American philanthropist
Laurance S. Rockefeller was an American venture capitalist and philanthropist and a member of the famed Rockefeller family. He was the third of the five sons of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He graduated from...
American politician
Franklin K. Lane was a U.S. lawyer and politician who, as secretary of the interior (1913–20) made important contributions to conservation. The Lane family moved from Canada to California in 1871. Lane...
American environmentalist
Aldo Leopold was an American environmentalist whose book A Sand County Almanac (1949) was read by millions and strongly influenced the budding environmental movement. (Read E.O. Wilson’s Britannica essay...
Canadian naturalist
Jack Miner was a Canadian naturalist, author, and lecturer who won a reputation as a leading bird conservationist and who conducted extensive research into migratory patterns. Miner moved to Essex county,...
German explorer and naturalist
Alexander von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer who was a major figure in the classical period of physical geography and biogeography—areas of science now included in the Earth sciences and...
Potawatomi writer and scientist
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, writer, and plant ecologist perhaps best known for her book of essays Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (2013)....
English biologist
Charles Elton was an English biologist credited with framing the basic principles of modern animal ecology. Elton was educated first at Liverpool College and then at New College, Oxford, from which he...
American botanist, taxonomist, and ecologist
Frederic Edward Clements was an American botanist, taxonomist, and ecologist who influenced the early study of plant communities, particularly the process of plant succession. Clements was educated at...
American botanist
Henry Chandler Cowles was an American botanist, ecologist, and educator who influenced the early study of plant communities, particularly the process of plant succession, which later became a fundamental...
Indian ecologist
Raman Sukumar is an Indian ecologist best known for his work on the behaviour of Asian elephants and how their presence has affected both human and natural environments. As a child growing up in Madras,...
Canadian plant ecologist
Pierre Dansereau was a French Canadian plant ecologist who was a pioneer in the study of the dynamics of forests and who attempted to extend ecological concepts to the modern human environment. Dansereau...
American biologist
G. Evelyn Hutchinson was an English-born American zoologist known for his ecological studies of freshwater lakes. Hutchinson was educated at Greshams School in Holt, Norfolk, and at the University of Cambridge....
American zoologist
Karl P. Schmidt was a U.S. zoologist whose international reputation derived from the principles of animal ecology he established through his theoretical studies and fieldwork. He was also a leading authority...
British economist
E.F. Schumacher was a German-born British economist who developed the concepts of “intermediate technology” and “small is beautiful.” As a German Rhodes scholar in the early 1930s, E.F. Schumacher studied...
Danish botanist
Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming was a Danish botanist whose work on the relations between living plants and their surroundings made him a founder of plant ecology. Warming was educated at the University...
American animal ecologist
Thomas Park was a U.S. animal ecologist known for his experiments with beetles in analyzing population dynamics. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1932, Park taught at Johns Hopkins...
American zoologist
Warder Clyde Allee was a zoologist and ecologist noted for his research on social behavior, aggregations, and distribution of animals in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. He demonstrated that...
American zoologist
Victor Ernest Shelford was an American zoologist and animal ecologist whose pioneering studies of animal communities helped to establish ecology as a distinct discipline. His Animal Communities in Temperate...
American entomologist
Orlando Park was a U.S. entomologist known chiefly for his work on the biology and taxonomy of insects comprising the family Pselaphidae, a group of small, short-winged, mold beetles that commonly live...
American biologist
Barry Commoner was an American biologist and educator. He studied at Harvard University and taught at Washington University and Queens College. His warnings, since the 1950s, of the environmental threats...
American ornithologist
Roger Tory Peterson was an American ornithologist, author, conservationist, and wildlife artist whose field books on birds, beginning with A Field Guide to the Birds (1934; 4th ed. 1980), did much in the...
American photography critic, conservationist, and editor
Nancy Newhall was an American photography critic, conservationist, and editor who was an important contributor to the development of the photograph book as an art form. Newhall attended Smith College and...
British economist and writer
Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson was a British economist and writer. After studying economics at the University of Oxford, she became a writer and editor at The Economist (from 1939). She married Robert...
American zoologist
Marston Bates was an American zoologist whose studies of mosquitoes in the 1930s and ’40s contributed greatly to the epidemiology of yellow fever in northern South America. After several years of fieldwork,...
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