Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887-March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and former Lamont curator of birds for the American Museum of Natural History. Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended undergraduate at Brown University, graduating in 1911. He was the author of over 600 scientific articles throughout his scientific career. Two of his more famous works are a Logbook for Grace; Whaling Brig Daisy, 1912-1913 and Oceanic Birds of South America. After his retirement to his home in Old Field, New York in 1957 he, along with other citizens of Long Island including Archibald Roosevelt, unsuccessfully sued to stop the spraying of DDT arguing that it was damaging the wildlife. Before he died, one of the local junior high schools in the Three Village Central School District was named in his honor: Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School. In 1939 Murphy was elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union Most of his personal papers are archived at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Some of his personal papers are located at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Further reading
- Eleanor Mathews, Ambassador to the Penguins: A Naturalist's Year Aboard a Yankee Whaleship, Boston: David R. Godine, 2003 ISBN 1-56792-246-5
