Portrait of Sidney Dillon Ripley

Birthday profile

Sidney Dillon Ripley

Sidney Dillon Ripley, American ornithologist and academic (died 2001)

Born
September 20, 1913
Died
March 12, 2001
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1913

About Sidney Dillon Ripley

Sidney Dillon Ripley II was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for 20 years, from 1964 to 1984, leading the institution through its period of greatest growth and expansion. For his leadership at the Smithsonian, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985. The government of Thailand awarded him the Order of the White Elephant, a national award for his support of the Thai underground during the war. In 1985 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. Ripley became a full professor and director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Sidney Dillon Ripley timeline

  1. For his leadership at the Smithsonian, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985.
  2. In 1985 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.

The world when Sidney Dillon Ripley was born

Sidney Dillon Ripley was born in 1913. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1913

  • Best-selling book"The Inside of the Cup" – Winston Churchill

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJim Thorpe stripped of Olympic titles over amateurism rules
  • Top headline16th Amendment allows federal income tax
  • Technology milestoneFord assembly line begins — revolutionizes manufacturing
  • World population~1.73B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population96.0M

1913 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Sidney Dillon Ripley's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19132026
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population96.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

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