Storrs L. Olson
American biologist and ornithologist (1944–2021)
Storrs Lovejoy Olson (April 3, 1944 – January 20, 2021) was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known for his studies of fossil and subfossil birds on islands such as Ascension, St. Helena and Hawaii. His early higher education took place at Florida State University in 1966, where he obtained a B.A. in biology, and the University of Florida, where he received an M.S. in biology. Olson's doctoral studies took place at Johns Hopkins University, in what was then the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was married to fellow paleornithologist Helen F. James.
Early life and education
Olson was born April 4, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois. His father was physical oceanographer Franklyn C. W. Olson. He was named after his maternal conservationist grandfather P. S. Lovejoy. Franklyn worked at Ohio University's Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island.
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