Background
He was born on November 15, 1962 in New York City, New New York
He was born on November 15, 1962 in New York City, New New York
He performed postdoctoral work at the National Museum of Natural History and Louisiana State University, eventually taking a position as a professor of biology at Southeastern Louisiana University. He was also the curator for the Department of Herpetology for the California Academy of Sciences. His primary area of research was venomous snakes, having written some 40 peer-reviewed articles and one book
On September 11th, 2001, while doing research deep in an isolated region of Myanmar, Slowinski was bitten by a juvenile multi-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus).
He died 29 hours later after his team made several failed attempts to procure medical attention. The weather that night was particularly bad, preventing a helicopter from transporting Slowinski to a hospital, and making it impossible to carry medical supplies to the campsite.
A biography was written in 2008 by Jamie James about the life and death of Slowinski, titled The Snake Charmer. There have been three species named for Slowinski: a species of North American corn snake (Pantherophis slowinskii ), a species of bent-toed gecko native to Myanmar (Cyrtodactylus slowinskii ), and a species of krait native to Vietnam (Bungarus slowinskii ).