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, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of sp ...

and the world's leading expert on

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

Education and career

Polis was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, 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 land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

. 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 of scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic for ...

. He went on to teach at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

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 The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. 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 land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, a post he held until his death in 2000.

Death

Polis died in a seastorm in the

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

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