Richard Meinertzhagen Scientist

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa where he was credited with the creating and executing the infamous Haversack Ruse. While early biographies lionized Meinertzhagen as a master of military strategy and espionage, later works such as Garfield's book "The Meinertzhagen Mystery" presented him as a fraud for fabricating stories of his feats and speculated he was also a murderer. The discovery of stolen museum specimens of birds resubmitted as original discoveries have raised serious doubts on a number of ornithological records claimed by Meinertzhagen as well.