Harold Oldroyd

Who was Harold Oldroyd?

Harold Oldroyd was a British entomologist, born in 1914. He specialised in the biology of flies, and wrote many books, especially popular science that helped entomology to reach a broader public. His The Natural History of Flies is considered to be the "fly Bible". Although his speciality was the Diptera, he acknowledged that they are not a popular topic: "Breeding in dung, carrion, sewage and even living flesh, flies are a subject of disgust...not to be discussed in polite society". It was Oldroyd who proposed the idea of hyphenating the names of true flies to distinguish them from other insects with "fly" in their names. Thus, the "house-fly", "crane-fly" and "blow-fly" would be true flies, while the "dragonfly", "scorpion fly" and so on belong to other orders. He also debunked the calculation that a single pair of house-flies, if allowed to reproduce without inhibitions could, within nine months, number 5.6×10^12 individuals, enough to cover the Earth to a thickness of 14.3 m. Oldroyd calculated that such a layer would only cover Germany, but remarked "that is still a lot of flies".

All the following lists are potentially incomplete. Please add to them if you know of more.