Name E. Worthington | ||
Edgar Barton Worthington CBE (1905–2001) was a British ecologist and science administrator.
He was a Cambridge graduate, whose work alternated between Britain and Africa. He took part in an African lakes expedition in 1927–31, and in an African research expedition 1934–37, for which he was subsequently awarded the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
He was secretary to and first full-time director of the Freshwater Biological Association 1937–46. He returned to Africa in the late 1940s as science and development advisor. He was deputy scientific director for the Nature Conservancy 1957–65, and scientific director of the International Biological Programme (IBP) 1964–74. His interests included water biology and international nature conservation, including the environmental impacts of drainage and irrigation. He was awarded the CBE in 1977.
Taxa named in honour of E. Barton Worthington
Worthington is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of venomous viper, Bitis worthingtoni, which is endemic to the high central Rift Valley of Kenya.