Cowles, Raymond B. (Raymond Bridgman), 1896-1975

Biography / Administrative History

Ecologist, naturalist, and teacher Raymond Bridgman Cowles was born in 1896 in Natal, South Africa to missionary parents. He left Africa for the United States where he attended school, worked, served in the military during WWI, and attended Pomona College, earning a bachelor's degree in 1920. Following field work in Africa from 1925-27, he received his PhD in zoology from Cornell in 1928 and began working at UCLA in 1929, where he taught zoology until 1963.

Cowles wrote extensively about animals and specifically about reptilian thermoregulation, his pioneering research, from the 1920s through the mid 1970s. Other areas of research were fire ecology, desert ecology, continental drift and climate change, and overpopulation. Population issues, such as poverty, limited natural resources, famine, and birth control overlaid many of his arguments and were a concern stemming from his South African upbringing. Cowles published over 100 articles and wrote two books: Zulu Journal published in 1959 and Desert Journal published in 1977.

Cowles was recognized for his teaching and research with many awards and honors, including an honorary doctorate of science from Pomona College; the Cowles Animal Medical Ward at the Living Desert Reserve; and the UC Cowles Temescal Canyon Reserve in the Santa Monica Mountains, dedicated in 1978. Cowles died in 1975 at the age of 79.

From the guide to the Raymond B. Cowles papers, 1920-1992, (Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (University of California, Santa Barbara). C. H. Muller Library)