Albert Russell Main

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

FANZAAS (6 March 1919 – 3 December 2009) was an Australian

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

. Born in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, he studied zoology at

The University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilities ...

. He served in the Australian Imperial Force and the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but later returned to zoology, qualifying as a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 1956, and becoming a Professor of Zoology in 1967. He received many honours for his contribution to zoology including the

Mueller Medal The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is an organisation that was founded in 1888 as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British As ...

, the Gold Medal of the Australian Ecological Society, a

, the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

, and a

Royal Society of Western Australia The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...

Medal. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1969. He was married to arachnologist

Barbara York Main Barbara Anne York Main (27 January 1929 – 14 May 2019) Ann Jones (2019"Barbara York Main, Australia's spider woman and Wheatbelt advocate, author and poet dies"''Off Track'', Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Published May 23, 2019. Acces ...

. Bert Main is commemorated in the scientific names of a two species of Australian lizards: '' Lucasium maini'' and ''

Menetia ''Menetia'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The member species of the genus ''Menetia'' are endemic to Australia. They are ground-dwellers and live in open forests and open grasslands. Species The following six species a ...

maini''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Main", p. 166).

References

External links

* * 20th-century Australian zoologists 1919 births 2009 deaths Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Royal Society of Western Australia Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{zoologist-stub