Philip Steven Corbet (21 May 1929 – 13 February 2008) was a British entomologist whose work focused largely on aquatic insects and
dragonflies
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...
. He co-authored and authored several books on the subject, which established him as a world expert on the order
Odonata
Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous.
The two comm ...
. He is also noted for his interest in biological controls as a substitute for synthetic pesticides in agriculture.
Biography
Born in
Kuala Lumpur
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, where his father
Alexander Steven Corbet
Alexander Steven Corbet (8 August 1896 – 16 May 1948) was a British chemist and naturalist.
He was educated at Bournemouth and the University of Reading where he received a PhD in inorganic chemistry.Corbet, S.A. 2008. Philip's family backgroun ...
was a microbiologist at the Rubber Research Institute,
Corbet was educated at
Nelson College
Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...
in New Zealand from 1940 to 1945
[''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition] and then for a year at
Dauntsey's School
Dauntsey's School is a public school (independent boarding and day school) for pupils aged 11–18 in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. The school was founded in 1542, in accordance with the will of William Dauntesey, a maste ...
in Wiltshire. He went on to study zoology at the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
before completing his doctoral studies at the
University of Cambridge
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in 1953.
Corbet was employed as an entomologist and zoologist by the East African High Commission in Uganda between 1954 and 1962. Initially he worked at the East African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization in Jinja and then, from 1957, at the East African Virus Research Institute at Entebbe. He then moved to Canada where he worked at the Entomology Research Institute in Ottawa, before becoming director of the Canada Department of Agriculture Research Institute at Belleville, Ontario, in 1967. Four years later he was appointed professor of biology at the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
. In 1974 he returned to New Zealand, taking up the position of professor and director of the Joint Centre for Environmental Science at the
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...
and
Lincoln Agricultural College. In 1978 he became chair of the zoology department at the University of Canterbury, and two years later he was appointed professor of zoology at the
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...
, where he remained until his retirement in 1990.
Corbet continued to conduct entomological research at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, where he appointed an honorary professor in 1996. The same year he retired to Cornwall, where he continued writing and served on the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. He died at Truro following a heart attack in 2008.
In Canada, Corbet investigated methods of pest suppression that reduced or eliminated the need for synthetic chemical pesticides, and led the team that suppressed the populations of biting insects that threatened
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...
in Montreal.
Corbet authored or co-authored numerous publications, including the books ''Dragonflies: behaviour and ecology of Odonata'' (1960, expanded and updated in 1999) and ''A Biology of Dragonflies'' (1962).
References
External links
''Agrion: Newsletter of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association '' Special edition in memory of Philip Steven Corbet May, 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbet, Philip Steven
1929 births
2008 deaths
People from Kuala Lumpur
People educated at Nelson College
People educated at Dauntsey's School
Alumni of the University of Reading
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
British entomologists
Academic staff of the University of Waterloo
Academic staff of the University of Canterbury
Academic staff of Lincoln University (New Zealand)
Academics of the University of Dundee
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
New Naturalist writers
20th-century British zoologists
Presidents of the Entomological Society of Canada