| George Edward Dobson | |
| Birth Place: | Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Field: | zoology |
George Edward Dobson FRS FLS FZS (4 September 1848 at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland – 26 November 1895) was an Irish zoologist, photographer and army surgeon. He took a special interest in bats, describing many new species, and some species have been named after him.
Dobson was the eldest son of Parke Dobson [1] [2] and was educated at the Royal School Enniskillen and then at Trinity College, Dublin.[1] He gained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1866, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Master of Surgery in 1867 and Master of Arts in 1875.[1] [2] [3]
He became an army surgeon after 1867 serving in India and rose to the position of surgeon major.[4] In 1868 he visited the Andaman Islands, collecting zoological specimens for the Indian Museum along with Wood-Mason,[5] and in May 1872 he made ethnological and photographic studies of the Andamanese peoples.[6]
Around 1878, he became curator of the Royal Victoria Museum at Netley.[7]
Dobson was an expert on small mammals, especially bats (Chiroptera) and Insectivora. He was a member of several scientific societies, the Royal Society (elected 1883), the Linnean Society of London and the Zoological Society of London. He was a corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and of the Biological Society of Washington.[8]
In addition Dobson also contributed to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica where he wrote the accounts about the vampyre bats, the moles and the shrews.[9]