Professor Ian Newton FRS, OBE (b.1940) is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 ornithologist.

Career

Newton was born and raised in north Derbyshire and was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School. He graduated from Bristol University. He received his D.Phil. and D.Sc. degrees from the University of Oxford and has studied a wide range of bird species.

He has been interested in birds since his childhood. As a teenager he became particularly fascinated by finch

Finch

The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...

es and undertook doctoral and post-doctoral studies on them.Newton conducted a 27-year study of a Eurasian Sparrowhawk population nesting in southern Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, which resulted in:

what many consider to be the most detailed and longest-running study of any population of birds of prey.

Before retirement, he was Senior Ornithologist at the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's Natural Environment Research Council

Natural Environment Research Council

The Natural Environment Research Council is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences.-History:...

. He has also been head of the Avian Biology Section at the Monks Wood Research Station

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is the United Kingdom's Centre of Excellence for integrated research in hydrology, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and their interaction with the atmosphere...

 (1989-2000), Chairman of the Board of The Peregrine Fund

The Peregrine Fund

The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey. The successful recovery in the United States of the Peregrine Falcon, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999 , enabled the organization to expand its...

, Chairman of the Council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...

 and visiting professor of ornithology at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. Newton has also held the positions of President of the British Ornithologists' Union

British Ornithologists' Union

The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....

 and the British Ecological Society

British Ecological Society

The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It was the first ecological society in the world. The society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest sense" and this remains the central theme guiding...

 (1994–1995).

He is:

respected world-wide both as a biologist with a special interest and expertise in [birds] and as a communicator.

Honours and awards

• Union Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union
  British Ornithologists' Union
  The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....
  
   (1988)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
  Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
  Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
  
   (1991)
• Fellow of the Royal Society (1993)
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1994)
• Elliot Cowes Award of the American Ornithologists' Union
  American Ornithologists' Union
  The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
  
   (1995)
• Order of the British Empire
  Order of the British Empire
  The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
  
  (1999)