Michael H. Robinson (1929, Preston, Lancashire, England — March 22, 2008, Alexandria, Virginia) was a British zoologist who directed the National Zoo in Washington D.C., for 16 years, from 1984 to 2000. Robinson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wales, in 1963, and his doctorate in zoology, in 1966, from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he studied under Nobel laureate

Nikolaas Tinbergen Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen (; ; 15 April 1907 – 21 December 1988) was a Dutch biologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning the or ...

. Prior to his work at the National Zoo, Robinson spent 18 years in Panama, Central America, studying animal behavior at the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI, es, Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales) is located in Panama and is the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States. It is dedicated to understa ...

. There, he researched spiders, crabs, otters, stick insects, and marine life. His publications include numerous articles and several books. With David Challinor and Holly Webber he wrote the guide book ''Zoo Animals: a Smithsonian guide'' (1995). He was married to biologist Barbara Robinson, his colleague for many years, from whom he was divorced.

Bibliography

Sources

* Holley, J. 2008. "In Memoriam: Michael H. Robinson (1929-2008)" ''Arch. Biol. Sci. Belgrade'', 60(2): 325-326. {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Michael H. 20th-century British zoologists 1929 births 2008 deaths