The University of British Columbia

The biological collections that are the centrepiece of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum were each started by a different collector, some as early as the 1910s. Over the decades, the collections were added to by myriad researchers, and grew to contain over 2 million specimens. In 2001, researchers at the Biodiversity Research Centre and within the departments of Botany and Zoology envisioned a building that would facilitate interdisciplinary work on biodiversity, house UBC's biodiversity researchers and collections, and contain a public natural history museum.

For years, Ross Beaty envisioned a museum of natural history in British Columbia, a community asset that would profile the amazing wonders of the natural world, in one of the most species-rich places on earth. Ross and Trisha Beaty, UBC alumni, demonstrated inspirational vision and foresight through an exceptional leadership gift which enabled UBC create a museum in which the collections are available for the public to view.