Talk:Philip Hershkovitz

Question
I am expanding the article now using the biography in Hershkovitz's 1987 festschrift. I wonder whether we should include a bibliography and/or a list of taxa he named. Both would be fairly long. Ucucha 22:32, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Is there enough biographical information to make this a FA? If so (and I'd be certainly willing to help with a project like that) then yes. In that case the list size wouldn't overwhelm the article. Otherwise it's probably best to stick to the highlights, perhaps those specific articles/monographs/books that are mentioned in his various obituaries, and others that have been reviewed, or are highly cited. The 70 or so taxa he named could be easily fit into 2 columns without being unwieldy. Sasata (talk) 22:56, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I think so, or at least for a GA. I have now got to 4812 b of prose on his life, and there is going to be more on his research interests. He has written about 164 papers, so the list would be rather long, but it would be doable. I'm not sure we could get a list of new taxa into two columns, as we would probably need a second column for current taxonomy—many of his species have been invalidated. Ucucha 22:59, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Maybe hold off on a complete listing of publications for now, some other opinions would be good on whether that's the way to go. I think the species list would be valuable. Let me know what I can do to help. Sasata (talk) 23:05, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, one question: Did he retire in 1971 (Patterson 1987) or 1974 (Fooden 1997b)? Ucucha 23:28, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Dunno ... can you access Coimbra-Filho, Adelmar F. (1997). "Philip Hershkovitz". Neotropical Primates 5: (2):34-36, or Langguth, Alfredo. (1997). [Philip Hershkovitz: the last to be familiar with the diversity of our mammals.] (Portuguese) Neotropical Primates  5(3):68-71? These might have corroborating answers. Sasata (talk) 23:36, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
 * They may be online, and otherwise I'll probably be able to get them. And another thing: we might want to write something on his theory of metachromism, which explains variation in fur coloration; see http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=metachromism for some pertinent papers. Ucucha 23:44, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

I just saved my expansion. I think we could add some more detail on his research, and we need refs for some of the species he described. I will continue to work on it tomorrow. It's long enough for DYK now; what of a hook? Perhaps something with affordable housing in Bogotá? ... that when Philip Hershkovitz was appointed a curator of mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History in 1947, he almost immediately set off to work in the field in South America, declaring that the nearest affordable housing was in Bogotá, Colombia? Ucucha 01:06, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

The Neotropical Primates papers are here (5(2)) and here (5(3)). Both may be helpful in developing the article, but don't clarify the date of his retirement. Ucucha 01:11, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Excellent! I'll do what I can later tonight, and submit a hook, if you haven't done so already. Sasata (talk) 01:28, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Another idea might be to contact someone at the Field Museum of Natural History and see if they'd be interested in releasing some photos to help enhance this article. Sasata (talk) 01:30, 25 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I got it at T:TDYK. Yes, that would be a good idea. I think we definitely have enough material for an FA, and an illustration would greatly improve it. Ucucha 01:52, 25 March 2010 (UTC)