Theodore D. A. Cockerell

In "The American Cockerell: A Naturalist's Life", botanist William A. Weber pulls together pieces of the life of T D A 'Theo' Cockerell, a man who was an internationally known scientist, a prolific writer, and a highly regarded teacher at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The elder brother of the noted scholar Sir Sydney Cockerell, Theo laboured in relative obscurity in America while his brothers and their families were basking in the limelight of smart British society. His contribution to the understanding of wild bees is monumental - he catalogued over 900 species in Colorado alone, and he assiduously collected them wherever he travelled. By 1938 he had published the names and descriptions of 5,480 new species and subspecies. He was also an early supporter of women's rights, a Morrisian socialist, an avid reader, and author of almost 4,000 published scientific papers, book reviews, and discussions of social issues.