The Fish Department - Research
Edward Pierson Ramsay
Photo © Australian Museum
1842-1916
Tenure at Australian Museum 1874-1894
Ramsay was born in Sydney. He spent two years studying medicine at the University of Sydney, but his interests were in natural history.
He worked primarily on birds. During his career he wrote more than eighty scientific papers, over fifty of which were written while at the Australian Museum. He described 55 species of fishes, often in collaboration with Ogilby.
Ramsay was one of the Commissioners of the International Exhibition of Industry and Arts in Sydney in 1879, Commissioner of a similar exhibition in Melbourne two years later, Commissioner of New South Wales Fisheries from 1882 to 1895, and Secretary in charge of the Australian exhibits at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. He was also foundation treasurer of the Entomological Society of New South Wales in 1862 and foundation council member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales in 1874, continuing until 1892.
In 1883 Ramsay traveled to London to attend the International Fisheries Exhibition. At that time he met Military Surgeon Francis Day who had collected fishes over several decades in India, Burma, Malaysia and other areas in southern Asia. Ramsay negotiated to purchase a portion of Day's collection, including about 150 of Day's type specimens.
Related links
- View Ferraris et al's Day types paper (170k)
- View the Staff page
- View the Why keep old specimens? FAQ
Further reading
- Paxton, J.R. & M.A. McGrouther. 1997. A history of the fish collection at the Australian Museum (1860-1968), with a summary of current Australian fish collections. in Pietsch, T.W. & W. Anderson (Eds) Collection building in ichthyology and herpetology. Special Publication of the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology. Pp. 183-205, 14 figs. http://www.asih.org/pubs/Collection_building_overview.htm.
- Strahan, R. et al. 1979. Rare and Curious Specimens. An Illustrated History of the Australian Museum 1827-1979. Australian Museum. Pp. 173.
