James Allen Keast (15 November 1922 – 8 March 2009) was an Australian

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

, and

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

at Queen's University, Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Born in

Turramurra, New South Wales Turramurra is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. It shares the postc ...

, he performed war service 1941–1945 in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

. He earned his BSc (1950) and MSc (1952) degrees at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, going on to earn an MA (1954) and PhD (1955) from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He started the first natural history series on

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...

in 1958–1960. A long-time member and benefactor of the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and bird conservation, conservati ...

(RAOU), he was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1960. Keast joined the faculty of Queen's in 1962, and in 1989 became a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. In 1995 he was awarded the D.L. Serventy Medal for outstanding published work on birds in the

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

n region. As well as numerous scientific papers, he authored and edited several books. Keast endowed a postgraduate student award - Birds Australia's (formerly Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union) Professor Allen Keast Research Award. At Queen's, the J. Allen Keast Lake Opinicon Undergraduate Research Fellowship provides funds for an undergraduate to carry out summer study at Queen's University Biological Station. The J. Allen Keast Field Biology International Exchange Fund assists exchanges of biologists between Queen's and universities in the southern hemisphere. The fictional city-state of Keastipol, on the coast of the Great Southern Continent of

K.V. Johansen K.V. Johansen (born 1968) is a Canadian fantasy, science fiction, and children's author. Krista Victoria Johansen was born in Kingston, Ontario. She holds Master's degrees in Medieval Studies and English literature. She lives in Sackville, New ...

's children's novel ''Torrie and the Firebird'', was named after Keast.

Bibliography

*''Window to Bushland'' (1959) *''Bush Birds'' (1960) *''Australian Bird Songs'' (1964) *''Australian Bush Sounds'' (1966) *''Australia and the Pacific Islands: a natural history'' (1966) *''Ecological biogeography of Australia'' (ed.) (1981) *''Evolution, mammals, and southern continents'' (ed.) (1972) *''Bush birds of Australia'' (1973) *''Birds of Eucalypt Forests and Woodlands: Ecology, Conservation, Management'' (ed.) (1985) *''The origin and evolution of Pacific island biotas, New Guinea to eastern Polynesia : patterns and processes'' (ed.) (1996) *''Bird watcher to professional ecologist : a humorous career'' (2008)

References

*Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901–2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. *Woinarski, John. (1995). D.L. Serventy Medal 1995: Citation. James Allen Keast. ''Emu'' 95: 301.

External links

Professor Allen Keast Research AwardFacebook Tribute
1922 births 2009 deaths Harvard University alumni Australian ornithologists Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston 20th-century Australian zoologists Australian expatriates in Canada {{Australia-ornithologist-stub