David Horn Johnson (1912–1996) was a

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and department head at the Smithsonian Institution's

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

, specialising in the study of

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

. Johnson completed a Ph.D. at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

and began working for the museum as curator in 1941. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he became interested in Asian mammals and went on to research and publish on the topic. After becoming head of the mammal department of the museum, he participated in the

1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (also known as the Arnhem Land Expedition) remains one of the most significant, most ambitious and least understood expeditions. Commenced in February 1948, it was one of the largest sc ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, Australia.Johnson, David H. (David Horn), 1912-1996
Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 22 January 2021. Descriptions of parts of collection, several bats and a

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

, were later published as new species. He is reported to have been an accomplished

bushman The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200 ...

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized telescopic sight, scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper ri ...

and prepared his own specimens.

References

1912 births 1996 deaths American mammalogists 20th-century American zoologists University of California, Berkeley alumni {{US-biologist-stub