Charles Fleming (ornithologist)
Sir Charles Alexander Fleming KBE FRS FRSNZ FRAOU[1][3] (9 September 1916 – 11 September 1987) was a New Zealand geologist, ornithologist, molluscan palaeontologist and environmentalist. He spent the last twenty years of his life studying the evolution and systematics of New Zealand cicadas.[4][5]
Sir Charles Fleming KBE, FRS FRSNZ FRAOU | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 11 September 1987 71) Wellington, New Zealand[2] | (aged
Education | University of Auckland |
Occupation | Ornithologist |
Spouse | Peg Chambers[1] |
Children | Three daughters, including Jean Fleming |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Ornithology |
Fleming graduated from the University of Auckland in 1952 with a doctoral thesis on the geology of Whanganui.[6][7]
He was active in the Save Manapouri Campaign, was a spokesperson for Native Forest Action Council and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1973.[8] In 1974 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union.
In 1988 the Royal Society of New Zealand established the Charles Fleming Award which is awarded to individuals who have achieved distinction in the protection, maintenance, management, improvement, or understanding of the environment.
In 1997, Trevor H. Worthy commemorated Charles Fleming in the species' epithet of the prehistoric rail Pleistorallus flemingi from the mid-Pleistocene of New Zealand.
In the 1964 New Year Honours, Fleming was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[9] He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 New Year Honours, for services to science and conservation.[10]
References
- Matthews, Richard Ellis Ford (1988). "Charles Alexander Fleming. 9 September 1916-11 September 1987". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 34: 178–203. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1988.0007. JSTOR 770050.
- Dell, R. K. "Fleming, Charles Alexander". Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- "RAOU Fellow: Citation – Charles Alexander Fleming, FRS, OBE". Emu. 74 (4): 259. 1974. doi:10.1071/MU974259a.
- Turbott, E. G. (1988). "Obituary. Charles Alexander Fleming, 1916-1987". Emu. 88 (4): 269. doi:10.1071/MU9880269.
- Mary McEwen (2005). Charles Fleming, Environmental Patriot: A Biography. Craig Potton Publishing. ISBN 1-877333-23-9.
- Fleming, C. (1951). The Geology of Wanganui Subdivision (comprising Sheets N 137 (Waverley) and N 138 (Wanganui) of the Provisional 1 Mile Series ) (Doctoral thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland. hdl:2292/56208.
- "NZ University Graduates 1870-1961". shadowsoftime.co.nz. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
- "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- "No. 43202". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 1 January 1964. p. 40.
- "No. 47104". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1976. p. 42.
Further reading
- Royal Society of New Zealand - The Charles Fleming Award for environmental achievement.
- National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) Biography of Fleming in an exhibition of 20th Century New Zealand Scientists.
- Charles Alexander Fleming at http://www.nzbirds.com