Background
Burns, John McLauren was born on June 6, 1932 in Rochester, New York, United States. Son of Robert Kyle and Emily Lucile (Moore) Burns.
( “BioGraffiti is a highly diverting mix of the whimsical...)
“BioGraffiti is a highly diverting mix of the whimsical and scholarly, of science and art. It will be read―and reread―by those interested in biology and life.” ―Paul R. Ehrlich Legend has it (it may even be true) that J. B. S. Haldane, when asked by a clergyman what he could infer about God from the works of creation, responded, “He must have had an inordinate fondness for beetles.” Were I asked to infer something essential about Homo sapiens from his work, I should probably reply that this zoological odd-ball required humor to lighten a life taken too seriously. How else can we explain the fact that very profession has its underground classic of humorous self-deprecation and verse? Garstang’s Larval Forms has long filled this role for evolutionary biology. But, as a residual Victorian, Garstang turned out some mighty stuffy poems―and recapitulatory theory of the details of invertebrate morphology do no reside on the frontier of modern biology. But voyeurs and hedonists can now rejoice, for John Burns has produced a worthy successor, a work full of all that is modern in evolutionary biology―mathematical modeling, ecological strategies, ethological theories and, oh yes, plenty of sex.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393000311/?tag=2022091-20
lepidoptera curator research biologist
Burns, John McLauren was born on June 6, 1932 in Rochester, New York, United States. Son of Robert Kyle and Emily Lucile (Moore) Burns.
Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Johns Hopkins University, 1954; Master of Arts in Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, 1957; Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, 1961.
Assistant zoology, University of California, Berkeley, 1954-1957; assistant entomology, University of California, Berkeley, 1957-1958; assistant professor biology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 1961-1969; associate curator lepidoptera, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969-1975; associate professor biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972-1975; associate curator entomology, National Museum Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, 1975-1977; curator entomology, National Museum Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, since 1978.
( “BioGraffiti is a highly diverting mix of the whimsical...)
( “BioGraffiti is a highly diverting mix of the whimsical...)
Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science. Member Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society Naturalists, Society Systematic Biologists, Genetics Society of America, Lepidopterists' Society (president since 1995), Entomological Society Washington, Cambridge Entomological Club, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Sarah Frances Nance, August 14, 1954. Children: Laura, Karen, Colin Douglas.