William Henry Phelps Jr. (December 25, 1902 – August 13, 1988) was a Venezuelan

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and businessman.

Early life

He was born in San Antonio de Maturín, a town located in

Monagas Monagas State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Monagas State covers a total surface area of and, as of the 2011 census, had a population of 905,443. Monagas State is surrounded by Sucre State in the north, Anzoátegui State in the ...

, Venezuela. Along with his father,

William Henry Phelps William Henry Phelps Sr. (June 14, 1875 – December 8, 1965) was an American ornithologist and businessman. One of his sons, William H. Phelps Jr., was also an ornithologist, and collaborated with him. William Phelps was the founder of the Will ...

, he founded the first commercial radio station in Venezuela, 1 Broadcasting Caracas.

Career

After finishing his studies at

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

and getting a BSc in 1926 from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, 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. In recognition of his research the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

created a fellowship in his honor to fund Venezuelan graduate students interested in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

. In 1953 he founded one of the most important Venezuelan television stations,

Radio Caracas Televisión Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV and sometimes referred to as the Canal de Bárcenas) is a Venezuelan over-the-top streaming service and formerly a free-to-air television network headquartered in the Caracas neighborhood of Quinta Crespo and ow ...

, and served as its president for 34 years. He died in the city of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

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 Frank Michler Chapman (June 12, 1864 – November 15, 1945) was an American ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides. Biography Chapman was born in the West Englewood section of present-day Teaneck, New Jersey, and attended Englewood ...

à la ornitología venezolana'' Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1946 *''Descripción de cuatro aves nuevas de los cerros Paraque y Ptri-

Tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

y notas sobre

Bubulcus ibis The western cattle egret (''Ardea ibis'') is a species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones. Formerly, most taxonomic authorities lumped this species and the eastern cattle egret together (called t ...

, Myioborus cardonal y Platycichla leuocops'' Caracas: Casa de Especialidades, 1946 *''Descripción de seis aves nuevas de Venezuela y notas sobre veinticuatro adiciones à la avifauna del Brasil'' Caracas: Tipografía La Nación, 1948 *''Notas sobre aves venezolanas'' Caracas: Tipografía El Compás, 1948 *''Las aves de

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

'' Caracas: Tipografía La Nación, 1951 *''Las aves de las islas

Los Roques The Los Roques Archipelago (Spanish: ''Archipiélago de Los Roques'') is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of . The archipelago is located directly north of the port o ...

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 La Orchila Island is an island and a military base off the coast of Venezuela, north of Caracas. It has numerous beaches, including one where the sand is markedly pink (Arena Rosada). There is a presidential retreat on this island, and the re ...

'' 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 Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee (; January 4, 1901 – April 24, 1984) was a Swiss-American ornithologist. Early life and education Meyer de Schauensee was born January 4, 1901 in Rome, Italy, one of two sons, to Baron Frederick Meyer de Schauens ...

) ''A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela'' Princeton University Press : 1978. *(with Ramón Aveledo Ostos) ''Dos nuevas subespecies de aves ( Troglodytidae,

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches generally have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where the ...

) del cerro Marahuaca, territorio Amazonas'' Caracas Editorial Sucre, 1984 *(with

) ''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) .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, William H. Jr. 1902 births 1988 deaths Empresas 1BC people People from Monagas Princeton University alumni 20th-century Venezuelan businesspeople Venezuelan ornithologists Venezuelan people of American descent 20th-century zoologists