Courtenay-Latimer, Marjorie (1907–2004)
Courtenay-Latimer, Marjorie (1907–2004)
South African ichthyologist and museum curator. Born Marjorie Eileen Doris Courtenay-Latimer, Feb 24, 1907, in South Africa; died May 17, 2004, in East London, South Africa; dau. of a station master on South African Railways; attended convent school in South Africa; never married; no children.
Became a curator (1931) and later director of East London Museum in South Africa; discovered a live coelacanth, previously known only from fossils, which was provisionally named Latimeria chalumnae by ichthyologist J.L.B. Smith in her honor (Dec 22, 1938); worked at museum in Durban (1932) and later at Cape Town's South African Museum; collected bird, plant and shell specimens from Bird Island (1936) for East London Museum; honored by 50th anniversary of coelacanth discovery held at museum on Comoro Islands, and by a limited edition of a South African gold coin with coelacanth design (1998). After her initial discovery, over 200 more found around Comoro Islands and Indonesia by end of 20th century.