(The Golden
Jubilee Special Convocation address in honour of Salim Ali at the University of
Delhi,1973)
Mr.
Chancellor
Dr.
Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali, President, Bombay Natural History Society, is unable
to be present here. The University has, therefore, decided to confer the
honorary degree on him in absentia.
Dr.
Salim Ali whose name is a legend in the field of Indian Ornithology was trained
in Systematic Ornithology at the Zoology Museum of Berlin University. He has
devoted all his time to the study of ecology and description of birds and has
published a series of beautifully illustrated books on birds of India. This
series is a veritable Bible of all field Ornithologists.
Dr.
Salim Ali is a most outspoken advocate of the conservation of the rich avian
fauna of India and has [is] largely responsible for the preservation of the
great Indian Bustard. He headed the Bombay Natural History Society’s Bird
Migration Study Project which helped in the evaluation of the role of birds as
disseminators of anthropod-brone viruses.
Dr. Salim
Ali was elected Vice-President of the XIV International Congress of Ornithology
and has represented India at the International Council of Bird Preservation and
the International Union of Conservation of Nature. He was elected Fellow of the
Indian National Science Academy in 1958, and has been awarded the Union Gold
Medal by the British Ornithological Union and elected to its honorary
membership. He has recently been admitted to the Order of Golden Ark which is
an order of chivalry established in the Netherlands in recognition of the
special services rendered by him to the conservation of fauna and flora. For
his distinguished services to Ornithology, he was awarded Padma Bhushan 1958
and Padma Vibhushan in 1976.
Sir,
Dr. Salim Moizuddin Abdul Ali being
unable to be present, I pray that you may be pleased to confer upon him the
Degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) honoris
causa in absentia.
Source: Salim Ali Papers, MSS, NMML
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