André Léon Tonnoir (

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

9 April 1885 –

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

30 January 1940) was a Belgian

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. Born in

, Tonnoir studied engineering followed by radiology at university. He worked as a technician during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and after the war had ended he worked with the entomology staff at the

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences The Museum of Natural Sciences (, ; , ) is a Brussels museum dedicated to natural history. It is a part of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (; ), itself part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSP ...

in Brussels. Tonnoir focused in the area of

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

and worked for the museum until 1921. He was then persuaded by Robert Tillyard to visit Australia for entomology work there. Soon afterwards, he left for

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in New Zealand to do research for the

Cawthron Institute The Cawthron Institute is New Zealand's largest independent science organisation, specialising in science that supports the environment and development within primary industries. Cawthron has its main facilities in Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson. I ...

until 1924. In the same year, he moved to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

for two new roles; curator at the Canterbury Museum and lecturer at Canterbury College. In 1926, he went back to work for three years at the Cawthron Institute as part of their noxious weeds programme. He eventually went back to Australia, working in

as a Senior Ecologist and Curator.

References

1885 births 1940 deaths Belgian entomologists Belgian curators People associated with the Cawthron Institute 20th-century Belgian zoologists {{Belgium-scientist-stub