Robert George Sprackland is a herpetologist who has been interested in zoology since early childhood. He studied herpetology and paleontology at the University of Kansas (BA), San José State University (MA), and University College London (Ph.D.), where he conducted the bulk of his research at the Natural History Museum, London. Robert began studying varanids while an undergraduate and has pursued his interest in the lizards across Australia, Europe, and New Guinea for over 45 years. He has published three books and over 40 papers about monitors, plus dozens of other zoological papers. Robert spent most of his academic career teaching college biology, anatomy, and physiology, and has been conducting research in the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian Institution since 2015.