John Tenison Salmon

John Tenison Salmon (28 June 1910 – 4 May 1999) was a New Zealand photographer, entomologist, academic, conservationist, and author. His primary occupation was as an entomologist; first at the Dominion Museum (which later became Te Papa) and then at Victoria University College (now known as Victoria University of Wellington).

Biography Salmon was born in Wellington in 1910. His father, Charles Tenison Salmon, was a surveyor and civil engineer from Palmerston North. His father instilled in him a love for the outdoors and also passed on a passion for photography. Salmon went to primary school in Palmerston North and then boarded at Wellington College. His first job in 1928 was with the Land and Income Tax Department in the capital city and in parallel, he studied science at Victoria University College. His 1934 master's thesis in zoology was on springtails (collembola). That year, he started as an entomologist at the Dominion Museum and he helped with the move to the new building in Mount Cook.

Salmon continued his studies of collembola and submitted photos to the Royal Photographic Society in London, for which he was elected an associate in 1937. In 1938, he became the president of the Wellington Camera Club and in the same year, he was elected secretary for the Wellington Philosophical Society, which was the city's branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The Dominion Museum closed to the public in June 1942 due to the war. Salmon kept up his research and in 1946, he received a Doctor of Science (DSc). In 1948, he was elected president of the New Zealand Association of Scientific Workers. The Royal Entomological Society of London elected him a fellow in 1949. A Nuffield Fellowship enabled him to travel to Britain in 1951, where he attended the conference of the World Federation of Scientific Workers. He was unsuccessful in an effort to moderate the political leanings of this body. As a consequence, the New Zealand group disaffiliated and formed the politically neutral body New Zealand Association of Scientists. In the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours, Salmon was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to conservation.

In December 1948, Salmon married Pamela Wilton, who had been his technical assistant at the Dominion Museum. They first lived in Karori and then Karaka Bay; they were to have four sons. After retirement in 1976, the Salmons moved to Waikanae and he was involved in local body politics through memberships to the Waikanae Community Council and Horowhenua County Council. With health declining, Salmon gave up his public roles in 1983 and they moved to Taupō where they had owned a holiday home for a long time. He worked on more books and revised earlier editions, with the increasing help from his wife. He died in Rotorua on 3 May 1999 and his wife completed his last two books. Pamela Salmon died in 2011.