Tim Berra

Dr. Tim M. Berra is Professor Emeritus of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University. He received the Ph.D. in Biology from Tulane University in 1969. He is a three-time recipient of Fulbright Fellowships to Australia in 1969,1979, and 2009. He taught at the University of Papua New Guinea before joining the faculty of OSU in 1972. Over the last 40 years he has spent over 9 years doing fieldwork in Australia.

He is the author of over 75 scientific papers and 6 books including Evolution and the Myth of Creationism published by Stanford University Press in 1990. His book A Natural History of Australia (Academic Press, 1998) features 200 of his color photographs, 220 line drawings and maps, and over 500 references. Freshwater Fish Distribution featuring 169 maps, 324 fish drawings and 1,700 references was published by University of Chicago Press in 2007. His latest book, Charles Darwin: The Concise Story of an Extraordinary Man, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2009 and features 60 b/w illustrations and 16 color plates.

In 1992 he was visiting professor at the University of Concepción in Chile, and in 1996 he was visiting professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He took early retirement from The Ohio State University in July 1995 to devote full-time to research and writing.

Dr. Berra is the former editor of The Ohio Journal of Science and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium where he also served on the Conservation and Collection Management Committee. He was also the ichthyological book review editor of Copeia, the journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. He resigned these positions at the end of 2000 to pursue fieldwork supported by the National Geographic Society and the Columbus Zoo in Australia in 2001.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists and Research Associate at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin, Australia where he spent most of 2001 working on the life history of the nurseryfish. He returned to Darwin in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2011 to continue his nurseryfish research. He was keynote speaker at the bicentennial celebrations of Charles Darwin's birthday at Charles Darwin University in Sept. 2009. He is University Professorial Fellow at Charles Darwin University and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Dr. Berra's paper in BioScience (May 2010) on inbreeding in the Darwin/Wedgwood families attracted international media attention including a story in the NY Times and NPR interview.