Person
Burns, Alexander Noble (1899 - 1994)
- Born
- 20 June 1899
Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 1994
Currumbin, Queensland, Australia - Occupation
- Entomologist, Insect collector and Museum curator
Summary
Alex Burns was an entomologist who was one of the few resident collectors in Australia to make significant collections in the middle of the 20th century. He had a large personal collection, mostly butterflies, dating from the 1920s. His early career was in Queensland with the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board and the Queensland Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations. In 1944 Burns was appointed Entomologist on a temporary basis (permanent from 1946) at the National Museum of Victoria, his first task being the rehabilitation of the collections. He was Assistant Director of the Museum from 1959 to 1964. Burns was noted as an excellent field collector, his specimens coming from all over Australia but principally from Victoria and Queensland. The Museum now holds his collection. The taxonomy of butterflies and cicadas was his main research interest. He was a prolific writer for scientific and naturalists' journals, and published 'Butterflies of Australia and New Guinea (1951) with Charles Barrett and Australian butterflies in colour (1969).
Details
Chronology
- 1916 - 1956
- Career position - Member, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
- 1922 - 1925
- Career position - Entomologist, Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board
- 1925 - 1930
- Career position - Entomologist, Queensland Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations
- 1932
- Career position - President, Entomological Society of Victoria
- 1936
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Melbourne
- 1936 - 1941
- Career position - Employed at the British Museum (Natural History) and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- 1937
- Career position - Presidnet, President, Entomological Society of Victoria
- 1940 - 1941
- Career position - President, Entomological Society of Victoria
- 1941 - 1944
- Career position - Served with Australian Army Intelligence Corps
- 1944 - 1959
- Career position - Entomologist, National Museum of Victoria
- 1950
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Melbourne
- 1956 - 1994
- Award - Honorary Member, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
- 1959 - 1964
- Career position - Assistant Director, National Museum of Victoria
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Barrett, Charles; and Burns, A. N., Butterflies of Australia and New Guinea (Melbourne: N. H. Seward, 1951), 187 pp. Details
- Burns, Alexander, Australian butterflies in colour (Sydney: Reed, 1969), 112 pp. Details
- Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Garnet, J. G.; and Burns, A. N., 'George Lyell, 1866-1951', The Victorian naturalist, 68 (1951), 53-4. Details
- Houghton, Sheila, 'Alexander Noble Burns 1899 - 1994', The Victorian naturalist, 111 (6) (1994), 247. Details
- Pescott, R. T. M., 'Retirement of Mr A. N. Burns', The Victorian naturalist, 81 (1964), 167-8. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21395258. Details
- 'Burns, Alexander (1899-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-458914. Details
Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
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