Person
Davies, Valerie Ethel (1920 - 2012)
- Born
- 29 September 1920
Wanganui, New Zealand - Died
- 29 November 2012
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - Occupation
- Arachnologist, Museum curator and Zoologist
- Alternative Names
- Todd, Valeria Ethel (maiden name)
Summary
Valerie Davies was appointed Curator of Arachnids at the Queensland Museum in 1972. She built up the collection by organising and attending numerous expeditions and systematically sorted and identified each specimen herself. Her research interest lay in tiny litter species in minor families. Davies has authored over forty publications including Australian spiders (Araneae): collection, preservation and identification (1986). She described over 150 new species, 17 genera and the family Malkaridae, and the spider genus Toddiana and 15 species were named in her honour.
Details
Chronology
- 1939
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), Otago University in New Zealand
- 1942
- Education - Master of Science with Honours (MSc (Hons)), Otago University, New Zealand
- 1943 - 1944
- Career position - Research Assistant in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Otago, New Zealand
- 1944 - 1945
- Career position - Assistant Lecturer in Zoology, University of Otago in New Zealand
- 1948
- Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Somerville College, Oxford, UK
- 1962 - 1963
- Career position - Nuffield Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Otago, New Zealand
- 1964 - 1972
- Career position - Tutor in the Department of Zoology (part-time), University of Queensland
- 1972 - 1974
- Career position - Curator of Arachnids at the Queensland Museum
- 1974 - 1978
- Career position - Research Curator at the Queensland Museum
- 1976 - 1985
- Career position - Honorary Consultant for the Department of Entomology, University of Queensland
- 1978 - 1981
- Career position - Deputy-Chair, Queensland Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee
- 1978 - 1985
- Career position - Senior Curator at the Queensland Museum
- 1984
- Career position - Participant in Expedition Wanderlust to Hinchinbrook Island
- 1985
- Life event - Retired
- 1985 - 2002
- Career position - Honorary Associate, Queensland Museum
- 1988
- Award - Queensland Museum Medal
- 1989 - 1992
- Career position - Vice-President of the Centre Internationale Documentaire Arachnologique
- 1992
- Career position - Secretary, XII International Congress of Arachnology, Brisbane
- 1993
- Life event - Settled in Australia
- 2010
- Award - Lifetime Achievement Award, International Society of Arachnology
Related entries
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details
Edited Books
- McKay, Judith ed., Brilliant Careers: Women Collectors and Illustrators in Queensland (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1997), 80 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Davies, Rosemary and Monteith, Geoff, 'Obituary: Valerie Ethel (Todd) Davies (1920 - 2012)', Australasian arachnology, 85 (2013), 8-13. Details
Newspaper Articles
- Davies, Rosemary, 'Leading light in world of arachnids: Valerie Davies', Sydney Morning Herald (2013), https://www.smh.com.au/national/leading-light-in-world-of-arachnids-20130106-2cb3n.html. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q13408849. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93908677. Details
- 'Davies, Valerie Todd (1920-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-589165. Details
See also
- Archive of past Queensland entomologists, Entomological Society of Queensland, 2019. https://www.esq.org.au/archive-intro.html. Details
Ailie Smith and Helen Cohn
Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 15 April 2019