Joseph Richard Slevin

Joseph R. Slevin
Slevin studying reptile specimens in 1953
Born	(1881-09-13)September 13, 1881 San Francisco, California
Died	February 17, 1957(1957-02-17) (aged 75) San Francisco, California
Nationality	American
Fields	Herpetology
Institutions	California Academy of Sciences
Alma mater	Saint Mary's College, Kansas

Joseph Richard Slevin (September 13, 1881 – February 17, 1957) was an American herpetologist and the second curator of herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences, with which he was affiliated for over 50 years. He collected reptile and amphibian specimens from around the world, notably in the Galápagos Islands in a 17-month expedition, and was largely responsible for re-growing the Academy's herpetological collection following its destruction in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He wrote or co-wrote nearly 60 scientific papers, and is commemorated in the scientific names of over a dozen species or subspecies of animals and plants.

Slevin was born in San Francisco, California, and attended St. Ignatius High School. His father, Thomas E. Slevin, was an amateur ornithologist and member of the California Academy of Sciences. Joseph studied classical languages at Saint Mary's College in Kansas, then enlisted in the United States Navy. By 1904 he had served his term and completed around 20 voyages with the Oceanic Steamship Company, a shipping company that operated between San Francisco, Hawaii, and Australia.

In 1904, Slevin was hired by the Academy of Sciences and trained by John Van Denburgh as a scientific collector. In June 1905 the Academy embarked upon a 17-month research expedition to the Galápagos Islands and other Pacific islands with a crew of eight scientists led by Rollo H. Beck; Slevin was in charge of reptiles. The purpose of the voyage was to study the geology of the islands as well as collect plants, mollusks, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles, and, as Van Denburgh wrote, "to spare no effort to secure specimens or remains of those races of the gigantic land tortoises which long had been thought extinct." The voyage made brief stops at islands off of Baja California and the islands of San Benedicto, Socorro, Clipperton, and Cocos before arriving in Española (also called Hood Island) in the Galápagos on September 24, 1905. During the subsequent year, the expedition found living tortoises on nearly all islands where they had previously been recorded, and living tortoises or their remains for the first time on three islands (Fernandina, Rábida, and Santa Fe). Slevin, aided by 18-year-old assistant herpetologist Ernest Samuel King, took detailed notes on the biology of the animals he collected. Biologists Thomas and Patricia Fritts, who edited and published Slevin's field notes, state that although he "was first and foremost a collector of reptiles, he was also a conscientious naturalist who recorded observations in a manner uncharacteristic of the times."