Jacques Berlioz

Who was Jacques Berlioz?

Jacques Berlioz was a French zoologist and ornithologist, specializing in hummingbirds. He was a grand-nephew of composer Hector Berlioz.

His earlier studies were in the fields of medicine and pharmaceutical chemistry, and he earned his doctorate in the latter discipline in 1917. In 1920, he became an assistant at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, where he worked in the laboratory of mammals and birds. Several years later, he attained the position of assistant curator, and in 1949 was appointed chief curator and given the title of professor. He retired from his duties at the museum in 1962.

Among his writings, were three chapters on taxonomy, distribution and migration in Traité de Zoologie. For many years he was an editor of L'Olseau et la Revue Française d'Ornithologie.

Berlioz was an officer of the Légion d'honneur, an honorary member of the American Ornithologists' Union, the British Ornithologists' Union, the Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft, the Zoological Society of London, and the Société de France Ornitholoque.