Two women of science and one aptronym
From Smithsonian Magazine
Meet Roxie Laybourne, the Feather Detective Who Changed Aviation
A new Sidedoor episode tells the story of Roxy Laybourne, a Smithsonian scientist who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology
By Haleema Shah
March 27, 2019
“There will never be another person on this earth like Roxie Laybourne,” says Carla Dove, program manager of the National Museum of Natural History’s Feather Identification Lab. “Her laugh echoed through the hallways.”
In an office just across the hall from the third largest bird collection in the world, Dove looks back fondly on her time learning from and working alongside Laybourne. For Dove, the late Smithsonian scientist and bird expert was a teacher and mentor, and for the scientific community, Laybourne was the woman who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology. Her research in the microscopic identification of feathers, particularly from birds that are hit by airplanes, changed aviation safety.
Dove says that when Laybourne took on her first birdstrike case in 1960, she was one of few women at the Smithsonian employed in a scientific capacity. She had been working as a taxidermist for more than 15 years, preparing bird carcasses for research and display, while developing a deep familiarity with birds.
“She was really into looking at the subtle differences in birds,” Dove says. “When she was skinning them and putting them away, she started to get interested in the subspecific variations of birds.”
Which was why Laybourne was consulted after Eastern Airlines flight 375 tragically crashed into the Boston Harbor just six seconds after takeoff on October 4, 1960. Crash investigators found bits of dark feather inside three of the plane’s four engines and wanted to know what kind of bird the plane had hit.
Roxie Laybourne’s conclusion was a surprising one. The feathers, she concluded, were from a 3-ounce bird called a European starling. The plane had flown into a flock of them, called a murmuration, in which anywhere from hundreds to thousands of starlings fly in swooping, coordinated patterns.
“That's when Roxie became totally into this forensics feather thing,” says Dove.
Click headline for story
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Meet Roxie Laybourne, the Feather Detective Who Changed Aviation
A new Sidedoor episode tells the story of Roxy Laybourne, a Smithsonian scientist who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology
By Haleema Shah
March 27, 2019
“There will never be another person on this earth like Roxie Laybourne,” says Carla Dove, program manager of the National Museum of Natural History’s Feather Identification Lab. “Her laugh echoed through the hallways.”
In an office just across the hall from the third largest bird collection in the world, Dove looks back fondly on her time learning from and working alongside Laybourne. For Dove, the late Smithsonian scientist and bird expert was a teacher and mentor, and for the scientific community, Laybourne was the woman who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology. Her research in the microscopic identification of feathers, particularly from birds that are hit by airplanes, changed aviation safety.
Dove says that when Laybourne took on her first birdstrike case in 1960, she was one of few women at the Smithsonian employed in a scientific capacity. She had been working as a taxidermist for more than 15 years, preparing bird carcasses for research and display, while developing a deep familiarity with birds.
“She was really into looking at the subtle differences in birds,” Dove says. “When she was skinning them and putting them away, she started to get interested in the subspecific variations of birds.”
Which was why Laybourne was consulted after Eastern Airlines flight 375 tragically crashed into the Boston Harbor just six seconds after takeoff on October 4, 1960. Crash investigators found bits of dark feather inside three of the plane’s four engines and wanted to know what kind of bird the plane had hit.
Roxie Laybourne’s conclusion was a surprising one. The feathers, she concluded, were from a 3-ounce bird called a European starling. The plane had flown into a flock of them, called a murmuration, in which anywhere from hundreds to thousands of starlings fly in swooping, coordinated patterns.
“That's when Roxie became totally into this forensics feather thing,” says Dove.
Click headline for story
This entry was originally posted at https://thnidu.dreamwidth.org/1754864.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID or your Dreamwidth ID.
comments there so far.