Roger Tory Peterson (August 28, 1908 July 28, 1996), was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement. Peterson was born in Jamestown, New York. After graduating from high school Peterson moved to New York City where he attended the Art Students League (1927-1928) and the National Academy of Design (1929-1931). He then taught science and art at the Rivers School in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1934 he published his seminal Guide to the Birds, the first modern field guide, which sold out its first printing of 2000 copies in one week, and subsequently went through 5 editions. He co-wrote Wild America with James Fisher, and edited or wrote many of the volumes in the Peterson Field Guide series on topics ranging from rocks and minerals to beetles to reptiles. He developed the Peterson Identification System, and is known for the clarity of both his illustrations of field guides and his delineation of relevant field marks.Peterson received every major American award for natural science, ornithology, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary medals, diplomas, and citations from America and elewhere, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the Golden Ark of the Netherlands.

He died in 1996 at his home in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York is named in his honor.