George Mackenzie Dunnet

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FIN FRSA (19 April 1928 – 11 September 1995) was a Scottish ornithologist and ecologist. He acted as an official advisor to the British government on ecological issues relating to the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

industry, salmon farming and the link (if any) between

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

s and

bovine tuberculosis Bovines (subfamily Bovinae) comprise a diverse group of 10 genera of medium to large-sized ungulates, including cattle, bison, African buffalo, water buffalos, and the four-horned and spiral-horned antelopes. The members of this group are classif ...

. The latter resulted in a government report generally called the Dunnet Report. He was the first Director of the Culterty Field Station (studying a variety of ecological issues) at

Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...

Life

He was born at

Dunnet Dunnet is a village in Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland. It is within the Parish of Dunnet. Village The village centres on the A836– B855 road junction. The A836 leads towards John o' Groats in the east and toward Thurso and ...

Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Scotland. There are two towns, being Wick, Caithness, Wick, which was the county town, and Thurso. The count ...

on 19 April 1928 the son of John George Dunnet. He was raised in

Stuartfield Stuartfield is a small inland village in the Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated south of Old Deer. It was formerly known as New Crichie, and the name is still used by locals as illustrated by the village association website bein ...

and attended

Peterhead Academy Peterhead Academy is a six-year Comprehensive Community School in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is operated by Aberdeenshire Council. History The original building of Peterhead Academy was built in 1846 and was originally a boys only sc ...

. He then went to

graduating BSc in 1949. He worked briefly at the Bureau of Animal Populations in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

before undertaking a five-year study research trip to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

as part of the Wildlife Survey Section of CSIRO, mainly concentrating on flea types on various species. He identified over 40 new species and subspecies during this period. He was then invited to head the new Culterty Research Station at Aberdeen University under Prof Vero Wynne-Edwards in 1957. He then succeeded Wynne-Edwards as Regius Professor of Natural History in 1974, continuing this role until 1992. He later served as Dean of the Faculty of Science for the university. In 1970 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Vero Wynne-Edwards, John N Black,

Julius Eggeling Heinrich Julius Eggeling (1842–1918) was professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh from 1875 to 1914, second holder of its Regius Chair of Sanskrit, and Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. Eggeling was translator and e ...

, and Charles Gimingham. He won the Society's Neill Prize for the period 1987–89. He famously resigned from his role as principal (and sole) scientific advisor to

Scottish Natural Heritage NatureScot () is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for Scotland’s natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and scenic diversity. It advises the Scottish Government on nature conservati ...

due to ongoing dissatisfaction with the SNH's lack of scientific input to their decision-making. He was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1994 New Year's Honours List. He died of a stroke whilst attending a conference in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 11 September 1995. The conference was debating the ecological effects of the proposed

Øresund Bridge The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined List of road–rail bridges, railway and motorway cable-stayed bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the second longest bridge in Europe and combines both roadway and r ...

Positions of Note

*Chairman of the Salmon Advisory Committee 1986-1995 *Member of the Advisory Committee on Science to the

Nature Conservancy Council The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) was a United Kingdom government agency responsible for designating and managing National Nature Reserves and other nature conservation areas in Great Britain between 1973 and 1991 (it did not cover Northern ...

*Chairman of the Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group (SOTEAG) *Chairman of the Review Team on Badgers and Bovine Tuberculosis

Publications

*''Fleas of British Mammals'' (1948)

Family

He married Margaret ("Mom") Thomson in 1953. They had one son and two daughters (one of whom died).

References

External links

*R.E. Lewis
Flea News 51: Obituaries
Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, December 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunnet, George Mackenzie 1928 births 1995 deaths People educated at Peterhead Academy Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Scottish ornithologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Aberdeen 20th-century Scottish zoologists People from Caithness People from Stuartfield Presidents of the British Ecological Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts