John Ripley Forbes
| John Ripley Forbes | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 25, 1913 |
| Died | August 26, 2006 (aged 93) Sandy Springs, Georgia |
| Occupation | Naturalist, Conservationist |
| Parent(s) | Kenneth Forbes |
John Ripley Forbes (25 August 1913–26 August 2006) was an American naturalist and conservationist who helped found hundreds of nature museums for children in over 200 communities and thirty states. His museums were noted for their interactivity as children could often even borrow animals.
Forbes appreciation for nature was fostered during time spent at his family's summer cottage on Birch Island in Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. As a child he also was a frequent visitor to the Boston Children's Museum, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.
As a teenager, Forbes befriended William T. Hornaday, a noted zoologist and conservationist. Hornaday worked at the Smithsonian Museum and was instrumental in developing the animal collections and exhibits that would later become the National Zoo. Hornaday was also responsible for the creation of the Bronx Zoo. After retiring from the Bronx Zoo, Hornaday moved to Stamford, Connecticut. The teenage Forbes was a Boy Scout in Stamford at the time, and he approached Hornaday at his home after discovering a frog with a glowing belly during a troop hike. The two held a lengthy discussion to arrive at the conclusion that the frog had swallowed a firefly.
After completing high school, Forbes enrolled at the University of Iowa to study in their museum training program. He later briefly studied at the Boston School of Fine Arts before enrolling at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where he studied for a year.
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