Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen (7 June 1950 – 7 March 2001) was a Danish entomologist influential in systematics and Lepidoptera research, and an early proponent of biodiversity informatics.
Inspired by reading about collecting and identifying moths and butterflies, Nielsen began gathering specimens at the age of fourteen and later joined an entomology club based in Århus.
With this appointment, Nielsen began his masters research, collecting numerous specimens as part of the project and studying their phenology and distribution, gaining his MSc in zoology in 1976.
[1] Following writing a volume on the moth family Elachistidae and working on the checklist of Danish Lepidoptera, Nielsen was invited through the University of Copenhagen to participate in a six-month expedition to South America.
During the 1990s, he and other scientists pushed for an extensive global biodiversity resource, designed to utilise up-to-date informatics software and capable of collating data held on various separate databases.
As Australia's Head of Delegation for the GBIF and a founding member, Nielsen was en route to Montreal to attend the first meeting of the governing board when he died of a heart attack.
He was in California for a conference while on his way to Montreal from Australia to attend the inaugural session of the governing board for the newly established GBIF, a project with which he had been significantly involved.