Gary Allan Polis (1946 – March 27, 2000) was an

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and mites. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly ...

and the world's leading expert on

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

Education and career

Polis was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. He graduated from Loyola University in 1969. Polis received an M.A. in 1975 and a Ph.D. in biology in 1977 from the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

. While at UC Riverside, Polis studied under Dr. Roger Farley. He conducted a variety of experiments and did studies of

Vaejovidae Vaejovidae is a family (biology), family of scorpions, currently comprising 25 genera and over 230 species, found in North America. The species of the family are found from western Guatemala, throughout Mexico, and in the United States, mostly we ...

. He went on to teach at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

from 1979 to 1992 and wrote several books; his ''Biology of Scorpions'' has been referred to as the "scorpion Bible." Polis was the subject of the boo
Scorpion Man
by Laurence Pringle. Polis was noted as a desert ecologist and advised the government on desert scorpions during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. In 1998, Polis became Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, a post he held until his death in 2000.

Death

Polis died in a seastorm in the

Sea of Cortez The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

during an ecological expedition. He was cited by a survivor as attempting to help others reach safety as a priority before his own. On the expedition in the Sea Of Cortez were colleagues from Japan, one of whom also died in the accident.

References

External links

Gary Polis Papers
a
Special Collections Dept.
, University Library, University of California, Davis {{DEFAULTSORT:Polis, Gary Allan 1946 births 2000 deaths American arachnologists University of California, Riverside alumni Vanderbilt University faculty 20th-century American zoologists Scientists from Los Angeles Loyola Marymount University alumni University of California, Davis faculty Accidental deaths in Mexico Presidents of the American Society of Naturalists