Robert Geoffrey Hewett Green AM (born 1925) is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, photographer, conservationist

Conservationist

Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...

 and long-term Curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery is a museum located in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. Established in 1891, the Queen Victoria has a strong reputation for its excellent collection, which includes fine exhibitions of colonial art, contemporary craft and design, Tasmanian history and...

 in Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...

.

Early years

Green was born in Launceston. He grew up on the family farm at Antill Ponds in the Tasmanian Midlands where he developed a strong interest in natural history. He joined the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, also known as Birds Australia, was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native bird species of Australia and adjacent regions. This makes it Australia's oldest national birding association. It is also Australia's largest...

 in 1946, took up bird banding

Bird ringing

Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique used in the study of wild birds, by attaching a small, individually numbered, metal or plastic tag to their legs or wings, so that various aspects of the bird's life can be studied by the ability to re-find the same individual later...

 and became the Tasmanian Regional Organiser of the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme

Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme

The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme , a combination of the former Australian bird banding and bat banding schemes, is managed by the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia.-History:...

.

Queen Victoria Museum

In 1959 Green was appointed the honorary ornithologist at the Queen Victoria Museum, the start of a thirty-year association with the institution. In 1960 he sold the farm and joined the museum staff, becoming the permanent curator from 1962 to 1990. As well as building up the museum’s collections of natural history and historical material, he also amassed a large personal collection of the eggs of Tasmanian birds, which was eventually donated to the National Museum of Australia

National Museum of Australia

The National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....

 in Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 in 2002.

Achievements

Green has published over 130 scientific papers covering a broad range of Tasmanian natural history, as well as popular guides to Tasmanian birds and mammals. He has been recognised in the scientific names of several animals, including a parasitic fly

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

, a bird louse

Bird louse

Bird louse refers to any chewing louse of order Phthiraptera which parasitizes warm-blooded animals, especially birds. Bird lice may feed on feathers, skin, or blood. They have no wings, and ther biting mouth parts distinguish them from true lice, which suck blood.Almost all domestic birds are...

, three flea

Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...

s, a mite

Mite

Mites, along with ticks, are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology.-Diversity and systematics:...

, two fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

, a skink

Skink

Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...

, and a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Tasmanian endemic Scrubtit

Scrubtit

The Scrubtit is a species of bird in the thornbill family Acanthizidae. It is monotypic within the genus Acanthornis, and is endemic to Tasmania and King Island in Australia. Its natural habitat is the temperate rainforest, Nothofagus beech forest and eucalypt woodland...

, Acanthornis magnus greenianus.

Honours

• 1987 – conferred Doctor of Science
  Doctor of Science
  Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
  
   honoris causa
  Honorary degree
  An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
  
   by the University of Tasmania
  University of Tasmania
  The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
  
   in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in zoology
• 1990 – appointed Member of the Order of Australia
  Order of Australia
  The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
  
   In recognition of service to conservation and the environment
• 2005 – awarded W. Roy Wheeler Medallion
  W. Roy Wheeler Medallion
  The W. Roy Wheeler Medallion for excellence in field ornithology was created on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of Bird Observation & Conservation Australia to commemorate Roy Wheeler MBE, FRAOU, , an amateur ornithologist with a long association with the Club, as well as with the...
  
   by Bird Observation & Conservation Australia for excellence in field ornithology
  Ornithology
  Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...