William H. Phelps, Jr.

Infobox_Scientist
name = William H. Phelps, Jr.

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image_width = 250px
caption = William H. Phelps during the first expedition to the Cerro La Neblina, Jan-Feb 1954
birth_date = birth date|1902|12|25|df=y
birth_place = Maturín, Monagas,
residence = Venezuela
nationality =
death_date = death date and age|1988|08|13|1902|12|25|df=y
death_place = Caracas
field = Ornithology
work_institutions =
alma_mater = Princeton University
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = 137 new taxa
prizes =
religion =


footnotes =

William Henry Phelps, Jr. (December 25, 1902 - August 13, 1988) was a notable Venezuelan ornithologist and businessman.

He was born in the city of San Antonio de Maturín, in Monagas, Venezuela. Along with his father, William Henry Phelps, he founded the first commercial radio station in Venezuela, 1 Broadcasting Caracas. After finishing his studies in Lawrenceville School and getting a B.Sc. in 1926 from Princeton University, he published over 78 books on the birds of Venezuela with his wife Katherine Deery Phelps, in which they described their discovery of more than 200 new species. Together they organized about 100 expeditions that helped collect over 1,000 species of birds. A direct result of his research was the creation of the Venezuelan Museum of Ornithology with one of the most important libraries and collections in South America. As a recognition for his research the University of Exeter created a fellowship in his honor to fund Venezuelan graduate students interested in zoology. In 1953 he founded one of the most important Venezuelan television stations, Radio Caracas Televisión, and served as its president for 34 years. He died in the city of Caracas.

Works

*"Las aves de Perijá" Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1944
*"Resumen de las colecciones ornitológicas en Venezuela" Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1945
*"Contribución del Dr. Frank M. Chapman a la ornitología venezolana" Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1946
*"Descripción de cuatro aves nuevas de los cerros Paraque y Ptri-Tepui y notas sobre Bubulcus ibis, Myioborus cardonal y Platycichla leuocops" Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1946
*"Descripción de seis aves nuevas de Venezuela y notas sobre veinticuatro adiciones a la avifauna del Brasil" Caracas: Tipografía La Nación, 1948
*"Notas sobre aves venezolanas" Caracas: Tipografía El Compás, 1948
*"Las aves de Bonaire" Caracas: Tipografía La Nación, 1951
*"Las aves de las islas Los Roques y Las Aves y descripción de un nuevo canario de mangle" Caracas: Tipografía La Nación, 1951
*"El posible hundimiento parcial de isla de Aves" Caracas: Litografía del Comercio, 1953
*"Las aves de la isla de Patos, con algunos documentos sobre la historia y la geología de la isla" Caracas: Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales, 1958
*"La aves de la isla La Orchila" Caracas: Editorial Sucre, 1959
*"Cuarenta y nueve aves nuevas para la avifauna del cerro Uei-Tepui (Cerro del Sol)" Caracas: Editorial Sucre, 1962
*"Lista de las aves de Venezuela con su distribución" 2nd ed. Caracas: Editorial Sucre, 1963
*(with Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee) "A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela" Princeton University Press : 1978. ISBN 0-691-08205-7
*(with Ramón Aveledo Ostos) "Dos nuevas subespecies de aves (Troglodytidae, Fringillidae) del cerro Marahuaca, territorio Amazonas" Caracas Editorial Sucre, 1984
*(with Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee) "Una guía de las aves de Venezuela" 2nd ed. Caracas: Ex Libris, 1993.

References

*Kathleen de Phelps. "Memorias de misia Kathy : primera Expedición Phelps al "Cerro Jimé," actual Cerro de la Neblina, enero-febrero, 1954". (Caracas : Tecniproven 1986) ISBN 980-265-446-9.

External links

* [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v107n01/p0181-p0183.pdf Biography of William H. Phelps, Jr.]
* [http://www.nocvenezuela.org/en/dyncat.cfm?catid=1652 Biography of William Henry Phelps and William H. Phelps, Jr.]