{{short description|New Zealand zoologist and museum administrator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Graham Turbott | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|QSO|size=100%}} | image = EGT1975lr.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Graham Turbott, 1975{{efn|Studio portrait of E.G. Turbott, scanned from his 1975 passport. Photographer unknown. First published in Notornis 62: 51–56 (2015)}} | birth_name = Evan Graham Turbott | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|05|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Stanley Bay, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|12|12|1914|05|27|df=y}} | death_place = Auckland, New Zealand | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}--> | fields = Ornithology, zoology | workplaces = Auckland War Memorial Museum<br>Canterbury Museum | patrons = | alma_mater = Auckland University College (MSc) | thesis_title = Some observations on the distribution and anatomy of Leiopelma hochstetteri Fitzinger | thesis_url = <!--(or | thesis1_url = and | thesis2_url = )--> | thesis_year = 1937 | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | spouse = {{marriage|Olwyn Mary Rutherford|1940|1994|end=d.}} | children = | death_cause = | education = | module = {{Infobox person |name=no|child=yes | relatives = Ian Turbott (brother) }} }} '''Evan Graham Turbott''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|QSO|size=85%}} (27 May 1914 – 12 December 2014) was a New Zealand ornithologist, zoologist, and museum administrator. He served as director of the Auckland Institute and Museum from 1964 to 1979.
==Early life and family== Born at Stanley Bay on Auckland's North Shore, Turbott was the eldest of the three sons of Thomas Turbott, headmaster of Grey Lynn School, and his wife Evangeline Alice Turbott (née Graham).<ref name="Notornis obituary">{{cite journal |last=Gill |first=B.J. |year=2015 |title=Evan Graham Turbott, M.Sc., Q.S.O. 1914–2014 |url=http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Obituary%20E.G.%20Turbott%202015.pdf |journal=Notornis |publisher=Ornithological Society of New Zealand |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=51–56 |access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Thwaites">{{cite q|Q64995662|pp=7-8, 372}}</ref> His brothers included the diplomat and businessman Ian Turbott. He was educated at Stanley Bay School, Vauxhall School, and was a foundation pupil of Takapuna Grammar School.<ref name="Thwaites"/> Turbott studied at Auckland Teachers' Training College and Auckland University College.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/> He graduated from the latter institution with a Master of Science in zoology in 1938.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university23.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: T |access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref> His thesis was entitled ''Some observations on the distribution and anatomy of Leiopelma hochstetteri Fitzinger''.
==Career== [[File:Graham Turbott and Brian Gill.jpg|thumb|left|Turbott with zoologist Brian Gill at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 2012]] In 1937, Turbott was appointed as assistant zoologist at Auckland War Memorial Museum.<ref name="AmObituary">{{Cite q|Q58628992}}</ref> On 7 September 1940, Turbott married the museum's ethnologist Olwyn Mary Rutherford at All Saints' Church, Howick.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19400913.2.131.2 | title=Quiet wedding | date=13 September 1940 | newspaper=The New Zealand Herald | access-date=24 April 2016 | page=13}}</ref><ref name="Thwaites"/> In 1943 Turbott volunteered to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and was posted to the meteorological section.<ref name="Thwaites"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/88637 |title=Evan Graham Turbott |work=Online Cenotaph |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=12 September 2024}}</ref> In 1944 he spent a year on coast-watching duties in the subantarctic Auckland Islands as part of the Cape Expedition, which also included Charles Fleming and Robert Falla, but he also found time to pursue his interest in natural history.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/> He later wrote about the experience in the book ''Year Away: Wartime coast watching on the Auckland Islands, 1944'', published in 2002.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turbott |first=Graham |title=Year Away |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/YearAway.pdf |access-date=24 April 2016 |year=2002 |publisher=Department of Conservation |location=Wellington |isbn=0-478-22268-8}}</ref>
Turbott returned and continued at Auckland Museum. In 1948, Turbott described Archey's frog (''Leiopelma archeyi''), naming the species after museum director Gilbert Archey.<ref>{{cite Q|Q89182658}}</ref> In 1957, Turbott left to become the assistant director of Canterbury Museum, Christchurch. He returned in 1964 to take up the post of director of the Auckland Institute and Museum, succeeding Archey. He remained there until he retired in August 1979,<ref>{{citeq|Q115749458|journal=|Auckland Museum News|page=1}}</ref><ref name="Notornis obituary"/> when he was named as the museum's director emeritus.<ref name="AWMM lifetime achievement"/>
Turbott wrote or co-authored several ornithological works, including ''New Zealand bird life'' (1947), ''Buller's birds of New Zealand'' (2nd updated edition, 1967, as editor), ''A field guide to the birds of New Zealand and outlying Islands'' (1970, with Robert Falla), ''The new guide to the birds of New Zealand and outlying islands'' (1979, with Falla), ''Collins guide to the birds of New Zealand and outlying islands'' (1981, with Falla), ''Birds of New Zealand'' (1990, with Falla), and ''Checklist of the birds of New Zealand and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica'' (1990).
A founding member of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Turbott served as its president from 1949 to 1952, North Island vice president from 1947 to 1949 and 1957 to 1958, and a councillor between 1953 and 1955.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/>
Turbott died on 12 December 2014.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/>
==Honours and awards== In the 1978 New Year Honours, Turbott was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services, in recognition of his role as director of the Auckland Institute and Museum.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=47420 |date=31 December 1977 |page=42 |supp=3}}</ref> He was bestowed with the Robert Falla Memorial Award by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand in 1988, and made a fellow of the same organisation in 1997.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/> In 2014, Turbott was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from Auckland Museum.<ref name="AWMM lifetime achievement">{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/media/media-releases/2014/museum-honours-outstanding-individuals |title=Museum honours outstanding individuals |date=24 September 2014 |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref>
==Honorific eponynyms== There are 15 species, mostly invertebrates from New Zealand offshore islands,<ref name="Notornis obituary"/> that were collected by Turbott have been named in his honour:<ref name="Spiller 1942">{{cite Q|Q58676618}}</ref><ref name="Harrison 1955">{{cite journal|last1=Harrison|first1=R. A.|title=The Diptera of Auckland and Campbell Islands Part 1.|journal=Records of the Dominion Museum|date=1955|volume=2|issue=4|pages=219–220|url=http://www.bugz.org.nz/WebForms/ResultDetails.aspx?CurrentDoc=CB71ED9B-98B7-4CFF-B0F8-FFB54794B3A4&back=true&NewDoc=true&searchType=0&SearchString=Campbell+Islands|access-date=25 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="AmObituary"/>
{{div col|colwidth=15em}} *''Allodiscus turbotti'' *''Anagotus turbotti'' *''Apatochernes turbotti'' *''Aucklandobius turbotti'' *''Cambridgea turbotti'' *''Cermatulus nasalis turbotti'' *''Dicyrtomina turbotti'' *''Exeiratus turbotti'' *''Mimopeus turbotti'' *''Paralaoma turbotti'' *''Pholcomma turbotti'' *''Proterodesma turbotti'' *''Pseudopisalia turbotti'' *''Subantarctia turbotti'' *''Xenosciomyza turbotti'' {{div col end}}
Additionally, the genus ''Turbottoplectron'', which has since been synonymised with ''Pachyrhamma'', was named after Turbott.<ref name="AmObituary"/><ref name="CookTrewick2010">{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Lorraine D.|last2=Trewick|first2=Steven A.|last3=Morgan-Richards |first3=Mary |last4=Johns |first4=Peter M.|title=Status of the New Zealand cave weta (Rhaphidophoridae) genera ''Pachyrhamma'', ''Gymnoplectron'' and ''Turbottoplectron'' |journal=Invertebrate Systematics |volume=24|issue=2|year=2010 |pages=131 |issn=1445-5226|doi=10.1071/IS09047}}</ref>
Lake Turbott, on Adams Island in the Auckland Islands, was also named after Turbott.<ref name="Notornis obituary"/>
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==Selected bibliography== {{Scholia|author}} *{{citeQ|Q58676660}} *{{citeQ|Q58676672}} *{{citeQ|Q115613084}} *{{citeQ|Q130243003}} *{{citeQ|Q112189585}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turbott, Graham}} Category:1914 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Companions of the Queen's Service Order Category:Directors of museums in New Zealand Category:Directors of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Category:New Zealand men centenarians Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War II Category:New Zealand zoologists Category:People from Auckland Category:People associated with the Auckland War Memorial Museum Category:People educated at Takapuna Grammar School Category:Auckland College of Education alumni Category:University of Auckland alumni