Roger Payne

jdgm

Roger Payne, American biologist and environmentalist, died June 10th.

He was the man who discovered that whales sing; he recorded and produced the LP 'Songs Of The Humpback Whale' in 1970.   I still have the record.  A flexidisc of some of it (with Payne narrating) was included in a 1979 issue of National Geographic which had a print run of 10.5 million.  At the time this was the largest single advance pressing of any record ever.

Because of Roger Payne's recordings and because of Greenpeace (originally founded in 1971 specifically to save whales) the plight of whales became an international issue, leading directly to them becoming protected.  That is his legacy.

R.I.P. Dr Payne.  You did it.

Jalapeno

RIP indeed

usedtobe

RIP

RocknRollDave

Thanks for the info; I’d never heard of him.
That’s a legacy to be hugely proud of. Few of us leave that kind of positive mark on the world when we depart.