Quick Facts
Biography
William David Lindsay Ride AM (8 May 1926 – 6 November 2011), usually credited as W. D. L. Ride, was an Australian vertebrate zoologist and paleontologist who was the chair of the committee that authored updated editions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
Career
Ride was born in London, England in 1926, the eldest son of Sir Lindsay Tasman Ride. In 1957 he was appointed Director of the Western Australian Museum, in Perth, as well as a Reader in Zoology at the University of Western Australia. In 1975 he was appointed Director of the Australian Biological Resources Study, located within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), in Canberra.
Ride worked for the CSIRO 1974-1980. He also served as the head of the School of Applied Science, Canberra College of Advanced Education, 1982–87, and was appointed Principal of the College in 1987. Following retirement in 1987 he became a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University until 2002.
In 1984 Ride was made a Member of the Order of Australia.
He died in 2011 in Canberra, aged 85.