William H. Thorpe

William Homan Thorpe FRS (April 1, 1902 – April 7, 1986) was Professor of Animal Ethology at the University of Cambridge, and a significant British zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist.

Together with Nikolaas Tinbergen, Patrick Bateson and Robert Hinde, Thorpe contributed to the growth and acceptance of behavioural biology in Great Britain.

In the 1940s, he pioneered the use of sound spectrography for the detailed analysis of bird song. At the time, there was only a single apparatus in the UK.

He was elected to the Royal Society in 1951 and speaker at the Gifford lectures from 1969 to 1971.

He was president of the British Ornithologists' Union from 1955 to 1960.