Happy Birthday, Sir David Attenborough
Sir David Attenborough sitting by the Great Barrier Reef.
Courtesy of 
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website (
CC BY 3.0 AU) via Wikimedia Commons
94 years ago today, one of the most inspiring natural history figures was born. Sir David Attenborough was born in Middlesex, England on May 8th, 1926. During his childhood, he collected fossils and natural specimens that were admired by his young peers. The passion and curiosity David discovered for the natural world would propel an impressive and inspiring broadcasting career. After earning a degree in natural sciences from Clare College in Cambridge in 1945, David went on to serve in the Royal Navy where he was stationed in North Wales for two years. An extensive filmography and list of published books ranging from the early 1950s to 2019 has earned David many accolades, including 32 honorary degrees, the 2005 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, the 2015 Individual Peabody Award, and several Primetime Emmy awards. In addition to these, he has had over 20 plant and animal species names after him including Attenborough’s Pintail (Acisoma attenboroughi), alpine hawkweed (Hieracium attenboroughianum), and a species of echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi). He may be most known for his narration and presenting for 1979’s Life on Earth, Planet Earth, and The Blue Planet natural documentary series. David’s soothing voice has been capturing the curiosity of people around the world for decades and has given us an amazing look inside the natural world we would otherwise not know without him. These documentaries have inspired many of us to make a living of preserving these amazing species as well as the lands they call home. It is no wonder that Sir David Attenborough is known as a UK national treasure as well as a world treasure. So, Happy Birthday to this incredibly influential, respected, and endearing natural historian! We leave you inspired as Sir David often does with this powerful quote from the man himself, “It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much life that makes life worth living.”