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Helen Elizabeth Shearburn Clark

January 01, 1970

Helen Elizabeth Shearburn Rotman (née Clark; 21 January 1936 – 27 August 2014) was a New Zealand expert on echinoderms, specifically starfish.

She was born in Napier in 1936 and attended Nelson Park Primary School (1943–1948) and Woodford House school (1949–1953).[1][2]

Education edit

Her association with echinoderms began while developing a M.Sc. topic in Zoology at Victoria University in Wellington, supervised by Dr. H. B. Fell. This was after being told by a professor that he was "not having women in my department".[2] This led to a focus on Southern Ocean asteroids (starfish). She completed her MSc at VUW in 1961 and her PhD was conferred at the same institution 1969–70. The PhD thesis title was “Revision of the Southern Hemisphere Asteroidea Order Paxillosida” and her first scientific publication was on Anareaster, a new genus of asteroid from Antarctica.[3] This early work[4] formed the basis of a modern interactive guide to the starfish of the Ross Sea.[5]

 
USNS Eltanin (T-AGOR-8) oceanographic research vessel. Clark participated in one of its research voyages.

Research voyage edit

She sailed as a scientist for a research voyage on the research vessel USNS Eltanin. This US research vessel conducted a total of 52 Antarctic research cruises from July 5, 1962, thru December 29, 1972. Over this time, some 80% of the southern ocean was surveyed, and a total of 400,000 miles traveled.[6] She wrote of her time aboard "a southern trip in the research vessel Eltanin was most rewarding and enjoyable. It was very exciting to see fresh and almost living material rising from the ocean depths!"[7] Clark was only one of two women aboard for the voyage. She wrote for Antarctic magazine saying "When we were on station my trawl invariably came at the end and this necessitated long hours of weary waiting. Then would come the slow steady creep of the wire over the edge, the long wait, the clatter of the winch as it began to wind the thousand or more fathoms of wire in again and the sudden awful taughtening of the wire if the trawl became stuck on the bottom. Then would come the manoeuvring of the ship, swearing, shouting, excitement and then it would be free and beginning its slow ascent again from the depths."[8]

 
National Museum of New Zealand at its original location in Buckle St. Clark worked there as a Research Associate.

International work edit

She worked at a number of research and teaching institutes. In 1961 she started lecturing at the University of Malta in the original Valletta campus. After that she moved to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana in the years 1964–1966 to teach zoology. This period included the violent ousting of President Kwame Nkrumah and associated social unrest.[9] Of the violence and unrest Clark said "I don't think that at any time the Europeans were in any danger but it was quite frightening and I think it could have got out of hand very easily".[2] She worked for a time at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., with David Pawson, a fellow New Zealander.

Later career edit

Following this period, she took up a position as a research associate at the National Museum of New Zealand at its original location. Her time at the museum included a major study published in Nature suggesting a new class of echinoderms, Xyloplax medmiformis which represents a radical departure in morphology from any other known extant echinoderm based on samples of sunken timber from off New Zealand's coast.[10]

In 1993 she joined NIWA where her collaborators included Drs. Don McKnight and Geoff Read. Her first NIWA paper, co-authored by McKnight, was about a taxonomically challenging new genus of deep-water sea-star. They named it Damnaster tasmani, reflecting the challenge posed by this complex organism. They were able to justify the name in formal classical terms—aster means star, and damn, comes from the Latin verb damnare, to adjudge, affirm or sentence. The work with Read included a study of how sea-stars ingested worms.[11]

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) indicates that she named 50 species.[12]

Throughout her life she was well known for collecting and caring for animals. When she left Ghana, Helen contacted Gerald Durrell at Jersey Zoo and offered her collection to them. They decided they needed an eagle owl and asked her to accompany two orphan leopard cubs for them as well.[13]

Honours edit

Circeaster helenae is a starfish named in her honour based on a holotype found 145 nautical miles NW off Port Hedland, Western Australia.[14] The specimen is now stored in the Western Australian Museum Marine Invertebrate Collection.

In 2021 a seamount in the Ross Sea was named in her honour. The feature is named Helen ES Clark Seamount and is located in the Southern Ocean at -72.8 latitude, -160.3 longitude.[15]

References edit

  1. ^ "Rotman, Helen Elizabeth, 1936-". Rotman, Helen Elizabeth, 1936- | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. January 1, 1936.
  2. ^ a b c specified, Not (April 14, 1993). "Interview with Helen Rotman, printed transcript". Interview with Helen Rotman, printed ... | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand.
  3. ^ Fell, H.B., Clark, H.E.S. 1959. Anareaster, a new genus of Asteroidea from Antarctica. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 87(1–2): 185–187.
  4. ^ Clark, H.E.S. (1963) The Fauna of the Ross Sea. Part 3. Asteroidea. New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 21, 84 pp.
  5. ^ https://niwa.co.nz/static/web/MarineIdentificationGuidesandFactSheets/Amazing_Antarctic_Asteroids_Ver1_2016-NIWA.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ Clark, H.E.S., 1970. Sea-stars (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) from "Eltanin" Cruise 26, with a review of the New Zealand asteroid fauna. Department of Zoology, Victoria University of Wellington.
  7. ^ The Echinoderm Newsletter No. 16, 1991, pg 140.
  8. ^ Clark, H.E. 1967. Woman in Deep Water, Antarctic, Vol. 4(10), 492-493.
  9. ^ Nkrumah, Kwame (1972). "On the Coup in Ghana". The Black Scholar. 3 (9): 23–26. doi:10.1080/00064246.1972.11431232. ISSN 0006-4246
  10. ^ Baker, A.N., Rowe, F.W. and Clark, H.E., 1986. A new class of Echinodermata from New Zealand. Nature, 321(6073), pp.862-864. https://doi.org/10.1038/321862a0
  11. ^ Read, G.B. and Clark, H.E., 1999. Ingestion of quill‐worms by the astropectinid sea‐star Proserpinaster neozelanicus (Mortensen). New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 26(1), pp.49-54.
  12. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species".
  13. ^ "helenanecdotes — JONO ROTMAN". jonorotman.com.
  14. ^ Mah, C.L., 2006. Phylogeny and biogeography of the deep-sea goniasterid Circeaster (Echinodermata, Asteroidea, Goniasteridae) including descriptions of six new species. Zoosystema 2006. 28(4), 917-954.
  15. ^ "Notice of Decisions to Assign, Alter, and Discontinue Undersea Feature Names - 2021-ln2006 - te Kāhiti o Aotearoa".

External links edit

  Data related to Clark's publication list at Wikispecies

January 01, 1970
helen, elizabeth, shearburn, clark, helen, elizabeth, shearburn, rotman, née, clark, january, 1936, august, 2014, zealand, expert, echinoderms, specifically, starfish, born, napier, 1936, attended, nelson, park, primary, school, 1943, 1948, woodford, house, sc. Helen Elizabeth Shearburn Rotman nee Clark 21 January 1936 27 August 2014 was a New Zealand expert on echinoderms specifically starfish She was born in Napier in 1936 and attended Nelson Park Primary School 1943 1948 and Woodford House school 1949 1953 1 2 Contents 1 Education 2 Research voyage 3 International work 4 Later career 5 Honours 6 References 7 External linksEducation editHer association with echinoderms began while developing a M Sc topic in Zoology at Victoria University in Wellington supervised by Dr H B Fell This was after being told by a professor that he was not having women in my department 2 This led to a focus on Southern Ocean asteroids starfish She completed her MSc at VUW in 1961 and her PhD was conferred at the same institution 1969 70 The PhD thesis title was Revision of the Southern Hemisphere Asteroidea Order Paxillosida and her first scientific publication was on Anareaster a new genus of asteroid from Antarctica 3 This early work 4 formed the basis of a modern interactive guide to the starfish of the Ross Sea 5 nbsp USNS Eltanin T AGOR 8 oceanographic research vessel Clark participated in one of its research voyages Research voyage editShe sailed as a scientist for a research voyage on the research vessel USNS Eltanin This US research vessel conducted a total of 52 Antarctic research cruises from July 5 1962 thru December 29 1972 Over this time some 80 of the southern ocean was surveyed and a total of 400 000 miles traveled 6 She wrote of her time aboard a southern trip in the research vessel Eltanin was most rewarding and enjoyable It was very exciting to see fresh and almost living material rising from the ocean depths 7 Clark was only one of two women aboard for the voyage She wrote for Antarctic magazine saying When we were on station my trawl invariably came at the end and this necessitated long hours of weary waiting Then would come the slow steady creep of the wire over the edge the long wait the clatter of the winch as it began to wind the thousand or more fathoms of wire in again and the sudden awful taughtening of the wire if the trawl became stuck on the bottom Then would come the manoeuvring of the ship swearing shouting excitement and then it would be free and beginning its slow ascent again from the depths 8 nbsp National Museum of New Zealand at its original location in Buckle St Clark worked there as a Research Associate International work editShe worked at a number of research and teaching institutes In 1961 she started lecturing at the University of Malta in the original Valletta campus After that she moved to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi Ghana in the years 1964 1966 to teach zoology This period included the violent ousting of President Kwame Nkrumah and associated social unrest 9 Of the violence and unrest Clark said I don t think that at any time the Europeans were in any danger but it was quite frightening and I think it could have got out of hand very easily 2 She worked for a time at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D C with David Pawson a fellow New Zealander Later career editFollowing this period she took up a position as a research associate at the National Museum of New Zealand at its original location Her time at the museum included a major study published in Nature suggesting a new class of echinoderms Xyloplax medmiformis which represents a radical departure in morphology from any other known extant echinoderm based on samples of sunken timber from off New Zealand s coast 10 In 1993 she joined NIWA where her collaborators included Drs Don McKnight and Geoff Read Her first NIWA paper co authored by McKnight was about a taxonomically challenging new genus of deep water sea star They named it Damnaster tasmani reflecting the challenge posed by this complex organism They were able to justify the name in formal classical terms aster means star and damn comes from the Latin verb damnare to adjudge affirm or sentence The work with Read included a study of how sea stars ingested worms 11 The World Register of Marine Species WoRMS indicates that she named 50 species 12 Throughout her life she was well known for collecting and caring for animals When she left Ghana Helen contacted Gerald Durrell at Jersey Zoo and offered her collection to them They decided they needed an eagle owl and asked her to accompany two orphan leopard cubs for them as well 13 Honours editCirceaster helenae is a starfish named in her honour based on a holotype found 145 nautical miles NW off Port Hedland Western Australia 14 The specimen is now stored in the Western Australian Museum Marine Invertebrate Collection In 2021 a seamount in the Ross Sea was named in her honour The feature is named Helen ES Clark Seamount and is located in the Southern Ocean at 72 8 latitude 160 3 longitude 15 References edit Rotman Helen Elizabeth 1936 Rotman Helen Elizabeth 1936 Items National Library of New Zealand National Library of New Zealand January 1 1936 a b c specified Not April 14 1993 Interview with Helen Rotman printed transcript Interview with Helen Rotman printed Items National Library of New Zealand National Library of New Zealand Fell H B Clark H E S 1959 Anareaster a new genus of Asteroidea from Antarctica Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 87 1 2 185 187 Clark H E S 1963 The Fauna of the Ross Sea Part 3 Asteroidea New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 21 84 pp https niwa co nz static web MarineIdentificationGuidesandFactSheets Amazing Antarctic Asteroids Ver1 2016 NIWA pdf bare URL PDF Clark H E S 1970 Sea stars Echinodermata Asteroidea from Eltanin Cruise 26 with a review of the New Zealand asteroid fauna Department of Zoology Victoria University of Wellington The Echinoderm Newsletter No 16 1991 pg 140 Clark H E 1967 Woman in Deep Water Antarctic Vol 4 10 492 493 Nkrumah Kwame 1972 On the Coup in Ghana The Black Scholar 3 9 23 26 doi 10 1080 00064246 1972 11431232 ISSN 0006 4246 Baker A N Rowe F W and Clark H E 1986 A new class of Echinodermata from New Zealand Nature 321 6073 pp 862 864 https doi org 10 1038 321862a0 Read G B and Clark H E 1999 Ingestion of quill worms by the astropectinid sea star Proserpinaster neozelanicus Mortensen New Zealand Journal of Zoology 26 1 pp 49 54 WoRMS World Register of Marine Species helenanecdotes JONO ROTMAN jonorotman com Mah C L 2006 Phylogeny and biogeography of the deep sea goniasterid Circeaster Echinodermata Asteroidea Goniasteridae including descriptions of six new species Zoosystema 2006 28 4 917 954 Notice of Decisions to Assign Alter and Discontinue Undersea Feature Names 2021 ln2006 te Kahiti o Aotearoa External links edit nbsp Data related to Clark s publication list at Wikispecies Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Helen Elizabeth Shearburn Clark amp oldid 1157861578, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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