[55][56] Roosevelt frequently provided praise for Beebe's books, and went on to write introductions to Beebe's books Tropical Wild Life and Jungle Peace. [151] He later went so far as to suggest that beachfront homes would someday contain their own underwater gardens, to be experienced with the help of diving helmets: If you wish to make a garden, choose some beautiful slope or reef grotto and with a hatchet chop and pry off coral boulders with waving purple sea-plumes and golden sea-fans and great particolored anemones. The novel was an account of a young woman who falls in love with and eventually marries, a much older adventurer who strongly resembled Beebe. [101] During a second trip to Kalacoon while his wrist healed, Beebe was further devastated to discover that due to wartime demand for rubber, the entire jungle surrounding the house had been clear-cut to make room for rubber trees. Dr. William A. Beebe of Weeki Wachee, Fla., formerly of Edison, died Tuesday at his home, surrounded by his loving family. Appalled by the destruction, Beebe finally rented his station at Nonsuch Island to a military contractor and returned to New York. William Beebe is regarded as one of the founders of the field of ecology, as well as one of the early 20th century's major advocates of conservation. Although this evolutionary model is now taken for granted, in William Beebe's time it was a novel idea. A. Milne, who wrote of Half Mile Down "I don't know which I envy you most: all those moral and physical qualities which you have and I lack, or all that wonder of a new world. [220], Research at Simla formally began in 1950. In 1957, at the age of eighty, he was still capable of climbing slippery tree trunks to study bird nests. [179] Barton was often resentful of this, believing Beebe to be deliberately hogging the fame. This did not go unnoticed by Beebe's mentor Osborn, who expressed concern about it in a letter to Madison Grant, writing "I find that he is worried and far from well. His training work was halted when, veering to avoid a photographer who had run in front of his airplane as he landed, he crashed on landing and severely injured his right wrist. William D Beebe. [102][103] Combined with his earlier loss of Blair, the effect of losing Kalacoon plunged Beebe into depression. As he observed the crater, Beebe realized that the air surrounding it was filled with noxious gases, and narrowly avoided suffocation before staggering away from it. Connie McAfee Obituary. [124] During the return to New York from this expedition, Beebe continued to dredge animals from the sea, using a pair of new devices he had devised to assist himself with this: a "pulpit", an iron cage affixed to the bow of the ship that enabled its occupant to examine the surface of the sea more closely; and a "boom walk", a 30-foot (9.1m) boom jutting from the side of the ship from which he suspended himself. A large number of military ships made docking difficult, most of the island's reefs were being destroyed to construct an airfield, and the combination of construction activity and pollution observed the sea life impossible. Following his Bathysphere dives, Beebe returned to the tropics and began to focus his study on the behavior of insects. [120] Passing through the Sargasso Sea on the way to the Galpagos, Beebe was fascinated by the diversity of life that could be found in the sargassum weed floating on the surface and spent several days scooping the weed from the water to examine the creatures that lived in it. His terrace there was decorated with statues of characters from Winnie-the-Pooh that had been a gift from A. [247] He was highly critical of efforts to use science to justify political ideologies, such as socialism[248] or the belief that women were inferior to men. William met and married Sandra K. Herring. [180] Beebe in turn lacked patience for Barton's unpredictable moods and felt that Barton did not display the proper respect for the natural world. Beebe returned to Rancho Grande in 1948, where he completed several technical papers about the migration patterns of birds and insects, as well as a comprehensive study of the area's ecology which he coauthored with Jocelyn Crane. [68] By this point Beebe was beginning to conflict with Horsfall, who was unaccustomed to such expeditions. [72], The expedition's next destination was Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. Beebe had far more field experience than either of the two others accompanying him on the expedition, G. Inness Hartley and Herbert Atkins, making this his introduction to the role of a mentor. According to the funeral home, the following services. U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current. I saw it because I was looking down. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Funeral Home Murdoch Funeral Homes & Cremation Service [111][112] Volume II of the monograph was published in 1921, and volumes III and IV were published in 1922. We are sad to announce that on February 19, 2019, at the age of 57, William Beebe (Brookwood, Alabama) passed away. [121], Beebe's first expedition to the Galpagos lasted twenty days, broken into two ten-day periods, between which the Noma was forced to return to Panama for fresh water and coal. In October 1917, Beebe had his opportunity to serve in the war. His letter of congratulation to Beebe was the last letter that Roosevelt wrote before his death. The Galpagos animals generally showed no fear of humans, causing the team to have a high degree of success at capturing live specimens for the zoo. [140] Observing the eruption from his ship for another two days, as well as again at a later point in the expedition, Beebe recorded how numerous birds and marine animals were killed after either failing to escape the lava or drawing too close to it in an attempt to scavenge other animals that had died. [10][11] During his high school years Beebe developed an interest in collecting animals, particularly after receiving his first gun at the age of sixteen, and trained himself in taxidermy to preserve them. This was the first time a biologist observed deep-sea animals in their native environment and set several successive records for the deepest dive ever performed by a human, the deepest of which stood until it was broken by Barton 15 years later. [162] The New York Times carried articles describing Beebe's plans, which called for a diving bell with the shape of a cylinder. [63] However, the zoo ultimately decided in Kuser's favor, partly because the scientific papers produced by Beebe's trip to Guiana had been beneficial to the zoo's reputation. [138] In addition to his helmet dives, Beebe applied the same method of research that he had pioneered in the tropics to a small area of ocean, sailing in circles around it for ten days to document all actions and interactions of marine life within that area. [215][249] Among the most significant of Beebe's influences on other researchers was Rachel Carson, who regarded Beebe as both a friend and an inspiration. [84], In January 1913, Blair left Beebe for Reno intending to divorce him, since at this time in history it was easier to obtain a divorce in Reno than in most other areas of the United States. [115] Beebe was enthusiastic about the new station, and it proved very successful for conducting the same detailed analyses of wildlife within small areas that had been performed at Kalacoon. This expedition was Beebe's introduction to the tropics, with which he developed a long-standing fascination. [127] Beebe continued to battle depression during this trip to Kartabo, both over his earlier loss of Blair, and over the death of his mother Nettie, who had died shortly before the beginning of the expedition. [242] The Archives of the Wildlife Conservation Society also holds several collections related to the Department of Tropical Research. The divorce was granted on August 29, 1913, after Blair had spent the minimum requirement of six months as a resident in Reno. [104] Beebe generally did not make the exact nature of his military service clear in his writings about it, although he expressed his general dismay at the realities of the war. The paper which finally resulted from this study was published in Zoologica in 1925 and was the first study of its kind in the developing field of tropical ecology. [219] In 1953, Beebe donated both properties to the New York Zoological Society for one dollar,[211] giving him the position of one of the society's "Benefactors in Perpetuity". [122] During this expedition he documented the unique ways that animals that inhabit the Galpagos have evolved in response to the absence of predators. [24], Beebe nonetheless exhibited a high degree of loyalty to those employees who were capable of meeting his standards. When he was unable to collect a specimen for himself, he often obtained it from a supply house known as Lattin's, or by trading with other collectors. [31][87] Although newspapers at the time reported Blair's accusations uncritically, with headlines such as "Naturalist was cruel",[88] modern biographers consider it more likely that Blair resorted to hyperbole to make a divorce case. She was 82. [174], In 1931, Beebe and Barton's Bathysphere dives were interrupted for a year due to technical problems and uncooperative weather. At his request, he and his chair were transported into the nearby jungle, and as he sat motionless the wild animals around him soon began to go about their business without noticing his presence. I saw them because I was looking up. [269], In addition to his descriptions of new taxa, the crab Leptuca beebei (Crane, 1941), commonly known as Beebe's fiddler crab, was named in his honor. [89] Despite her assistance during the pheasant expedition, Beebe excised any mention of her from the monograph he was preparing based on the data gathered during it. Obituary of William C. Beebe. [160] However, Beebe's ability to research the deep ocean using these methods was constrained by the inherent limitations of dredging, which could only provide an incomplete picture of the animals living there. [69] After Beebe had finished his documentation in the eastern part of the range, Horsfall refused to accompany Beebe in the western part of the range, causing Beebe to leave him in the town of Jorepokhri and continue his work in the Western Himalayas without him. Explore Life Stories, Offer Condolences & Send Flowers. [188] With the help of Beebe's friend the physician Henry Lloyd, Beebe conducted an expedition in the West Indies examining the stomach contents of tuna, which uncovered previously unknown larval forms of several species of fish. [75] In Burma Beebe succumbed temporarily to a bout of depression, and it was several days before he was able to resume working or continue the expedition. [169] The record set by the deepest of these, to a depth of 3,028 feet (923m) on August 15, 1934, lasted until it was broken by Barton in 1949. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of William Beebe to pay them a last tribute. William R. "Bill" Beebe, 78, of Dover died Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at Union Hospital with complications of a long term illness. [143] The book which resulted from this, titled Pheasants: Their Lives and Homes (also known by the title Pheasants of the World), was released in 1926 and received the John Burroughs Medal. He retired in 1996 from Quali-Chem, had also worked for DuBois Chemical, and was a milkman for Superior Dairy. As we came out below the outermost wall, the sun broke through, three house wrens sang at once, and a double rainbow sprayed the valley with infrared and ultraviolet. [51] The following year Beebe received a promotion from the Zoological Society, placing him on equal footing with the research scientists at the Museum of Natural History. William 'Bill' Harley Beebe. American ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, and explorer (18771962), For the U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient, see, Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, "The Ninth Expedition of the Zoological Society", "Feathers and 'feather-like' integumentary structures in Liaoning birds and dinosaurs", Department of Tropical Research collections finding aids, Article (free access) on William Beebe's contributions to Deep-Sea Biology, Cleaning and disinfection of personal diving equipment, Swimming at the 1900 Summer Olympics Men's underwater swimming, Confdration Mondiale des Activits Subaquatiques, Fdration Franaise d'tudes et de Sports Sous-Marins, Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori Teseo Tesei, Namibian Marine Corps Operational Diving Unit, US Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions, Underwater Offence (Turkish Armed Forces), International Marine Contractors Association, Federacin Espaola de Actividades Subacuticas, International Association for Handicapped Divers, Environmental impact of recreational diving, Use of breathing equipment in an underwater environment, Failure of diving equipment other than breathing apparatus, Testing and inspection of diving cylinders, Association of Diving Contractors International, List of signs and symptoms of diving disorders, European Underwater and Baromedical Society, National Board of Diving and Hyperbaric Medical Technology, Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Royal Australian Navy School of Underwater Medicine, South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society, Southern African Underwater and Hyperbaric Medical Association, United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit, List of legislation regulating underwater diving, Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, History of decompression research and development, Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival, Bennett and Elliott's physiology and medicine of diving, Code of Practice for Scientific Diving (UNESCO), IMCA Code of Practice for Offshore Diving, ISO 24801 Recreational diving services Requirements for the training of recreational scuba divers, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, List of Divers Alert Network publications, International Diving Regulators and Certifiers Forum, List of diver certification organizations, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, World Recreational Scuba Training Council, Commercial diver registration in South Africa, American Canadian Underwater Certifications, Association nationale des moniteurs de plonge, International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers, International Diving Educators Association, National Association of Underwater Instructors, Professional Association of Diving Instructors, Professional Diving Instructors Corporation, Rebreather Association of International Divers, National Speleological Society#Cave Diving Group, United States Marine Corps Combatant Diver Course, South African Underwater Sports Federation, 14th CMAS Underwater Photography World Championship, Underwater Orienteering World Championships, Physiological response to water immersion, International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office, Submarine Escape and Rescue system (Royal Swedish Navy), Russian deep submergence rescue vehicle AS-28, Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System, Submarine Escape Training Facility (Australia), Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia, Diving Equipment and Marketing Association, Finger Lakes Underwater Preserve Association, Society for Underwater Historical Research, Underwater Archaeology Branch, Naval History & Heritage Command, Neutral buoyancy simulation as a training aid, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Beebe&oldid=1133992320, Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [264] However, Beebe's prolific writing for a popular audience had a downside, in that other scientists of his time were reluctant to hold him in high accord because they regarded him as a popularizer. [204], In the spring of 1944, Jocelyn Crane returned to Venezuela to search for a location for a new field station to replace the one at Caripito. One night three giant fruit bats flew over the face of the moon. [235], In an account of his final meeting with Beebe, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr. describes how during Beebe's last few years he gradually succumbed to illness, eventually becoming nearly immobile and incapable of speech. In Japan, Beebe was given two cranes by the Imperial Household in exchange for a pair of swans, which were unknown in Japan. [33], The following February, Beebe, and Blair went on an expedition to the Florida Keys, because Beebe was suffering from a throat infection and the zoo believed that the warm climate would be beneficial to his health. [244] As a scientific writer who participated in both the popular and academic worlds, he occupied a similar role to the role later occupied by Stephen Jay Gould. [153][154] Beebe and Elswyth were married on September 22, 1927, when Beebe was 50. [13], In 1896, Beebe was accepted with advanced placement to Columbia University. Charles William Beebe (/bibi/ BEE-bee; July 29, 1877 June 4, 1962)[2] was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. Beebe made extensive documentation of hoatzin behavior through field glasses, but their plans to capture one were foiled when they had to return home early due to Blair breaking her wrist. [261] Carson dedicated her 1951 book The Sea Around Us to Beebe, writing "My absorption in the mystery and meaning of the sea have been stimulated and the writing of this book aided by the friendship and encouragement of William Beebe. This promotion explicitly granted him two months off each year, for further research expeditions. For his contributions to science, he was elected a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [220][223] In honor of his lifetime of work as a naturalist, Beebe was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1953. Roosevelt in turn admired Beebe's writing and his respect for the natural world. [114], In 1919, Osborn helped secure Beebe a new research station in Guiana to replace Kalacoon: Beebe was offered Kartabo Point, an outpost of a New York-based mining corporation. [217], At Simla Beebe and his team worked closely together with Asa and Newcome Wright, the owners of the adjacent Spring Hill estate, who provided accommodations for them while water and electricity were connected at Simla. [142], Shortly after Beebe's return from this expedition, Anthony Kuser requested that Beebe produce a condensed, popular version of his pheasant monograph. [15] At Columbia he studied under Henry Fairfield Osborn, and developed a close relationship with him which would endure until Osborn's death in 1935. [207] During his work at Rancho Grande, Beebe broke his leg in a fall from a ladder, and the forced immobility which resulted from having his leg in a cast presented him with a new opportunity for observing the area's wildlife. [89] On the other hand, some biographers have suggested that Beebe suffered a nervous breakdown during the expedition and that he may have contributed his own part to Blair's alienation. In 1923, Harrison Williams agreed to finance such an expedition, and Beebe was provided with a 250-foot (76m) steam yacht called the Noma for this purpose along with a support crew. During this expedition Beebe captured 40 live birds for the zoo, belonging to 14 different species. [19], In November 1897, Frank Chapman sponsored Beebe to become an associate member of the American Ornithologists' Union, and the following month Beebe gave his first professional lecture on ornithology to a society called Uncle Clarence's Bergen Point Culture Club. [8], In September 1891, Beebe began attending East Orange High School. [182] Out of pragmatic concern for the success of their lives, they managed to resolve their disagreements well enough to work together at Nonsuch Island,[183] although they did not remain on good terms afterward. Several of Beebe's photographs from these expeditions were purchased by Columbia professors to use as slides during their lectures. 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