Richard Meinertzhagen was one of the world’s most well-known ornithologists and was regarded as an eminent authority on South Asian birds. By the time of his death in 1967, the former British soldier had collected 25,000 bird skins, including thousands of specimens of Indian birds. His collection was acquired by the prestigious Natural History Museum of Britain and he had received several honours for his work.
But in the mid-1990s, his scientific legacy came under suspicion. While conducting research, Pamela Rasmussen, a scientist at Michigan State University, discovered that Meinertzhagen had falsified data over a lifetime. It was found that he had stolen birds and passed them off as his own.
This episode of The Intersection goes behind the scenes of the biggest con perpetrated in the history of the ornithology.
This is the latest episode of The Intersection, a fortnightly podcast on Audiomatic. For more such podcasts, visit audiomatic.in.
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