79-633: Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor. Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire , the son of Edward Stanley , rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich . A brother was Arthur Penrhyn Stanley and his sister Mary Stanley . He entered the Royal Naval College at the age of fifteen and remained there in 1824–1826, but these dates are inconsistent. For
158-591: A Lamarckian heredity, made unscientific pronouncements on agriculture, used his influence to destroy classical genetics in Russia and to move genuine scientists from their posts. In 1940, the leading botanical geneticist Nikolai Vavilov was arrested, and Lysenko replaced him as director of the Institute of Genetics. In 1941, Vavilov was tried, found guilty of 'sabotage' and sentenced to death. Reprieved, he died in jail of malnutrition in 1943. Lysenko's machinations were
237-601: A Soviet mental hospital, and Vavilov's reputation was posthumously restored in 1955. In the 1950s Huxley played a role in bringing to the English-speaking public the work of the French Jesuit - palaeontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin , who he believed had been unfairly treated by the Catholic and Jesuit hierarchy. Both men believed in evolution, but differed in its interpretation as Teilhard de Chardin
316-763: A close association with the British rationalist and secular humanist movements. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association from 1927 until his death, and on the formation of the British Humanist Association in 1963 became its first President, to be succeeded by A. J. Ayer in 1965. He was also closely involved with the International Humanist and Ethical Union . Many of Huxley's books address humanist themes. In 1962 Huxley accepted
395-539: A few months in 1826, he served as a volunteer on board the Royal Navy's HMS Druid which was then in the English Channel . After gaining the rank of midshipman in 1826, in 1826–1827, he spent time about South America on board HMS Ganges . In 1827–1830, he was on the Royal Navy's HMS Forte . And then in 1830, he was with Phillip Parker King on board HMS Adventure while it surveyed
474-636: A fortnight he dashed off a 60-page booklet on the purpose and philosophy of UNESCO, eventually printed and issued as an official document. There were, however, many conservative opponents of his scientific humanism. His idea of restraining population growth with birth control was anathema to both the Catholic Church and the Comintern / Cominform . In its first few years UNESCO was dynamic and broke new ground; since Huxley it has become larger, more bureaucratic and stable. The personal and social side of
553-695: A half-salary cut at the start of the war, and no salary at all whilst he was in America, the council's action was widely read as a personal attack on Huxley. A public controversy ensued, but eventually the Council got its way. In 1943 he was asked by the British government to join the Colonial Commission on Higher Education. The commission's remit was to survey the West African Commonwealth countries for suitable locations for
632-640: A lifelong internationalist with a concern for education, got involved in the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ), and became the organization's first director-general in 1946. His term of office, six years in the Charter, was cut down to two years at the behest of the American delegation. The reasons are not known for sure, but his left-wing tendencies and humanism were likely factors. In
711-420: A new method of evolution: the transmission of organized experience by way of tradition, which… largely overrides the automatic process of natural selection as the agent of change." Both Huxley and his grandfather gave Romanes Lectures on the possible connection between evolution and ethics (see evolutionary ethics ). Huxley's views on God could be described as being that of an agnostic atheist . Huxley had
790-670: A scholarship in Zoology to Balliol College, Oxford and took up the place in 1906 after spending the summer in Germany. He developed a particular interest in embryology and protozoa and developed a friendship with the ornithologist William Warde Fowler . In the autumn term of his final year, 1908, his mother died from cancer at the age of 46. In his final year he won the Newdigate Prize for his poem "Holyrood". In 1909 he graduated with first class honours, and spent that July at
869-676: A series of sub-species with continuous change in characters over a geographical area. The classic example of a cline is the circle of subspecies of the gull Larus round the Arctic zone. This cline is an example of a ring species . Some of Huxley's last contributions to the evolutionary synthesis were on the subject of ecological genetics . He noted how widespread polymorphism is in nature, with visible morphism much more prevalent in some groups than others. The immense diversity of colour and pattern in small bivalve molluscs, brittlestars, sea-anemones, tubicular polychaetes and various grasshoppers
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#1732773077804948-820: A two-volume account of the voyage of the Rattlesnake , published in 1852. Thomas Huxley wrote a diary of the voyage which was published in 1935, edited by his grandson Julian Huxley . Stanley is buried in St Thomas Rest Park on West Street, Cammeray . The Owen Stanley Range in New Guinea is named after him. In memory of his brother, Dean Stanley of Westminster Abbey donated the font in ChristChurch Cathedral in New Zealand. Captain (Royal Navy) Captain ( Capt )
1027-508: A word he coined. Thomas was also a friend and supporter of Charles Darwin and proponent of evolution. Huxley's father was writer and editor Leonard Huxley and his mother was Julia Arnold , a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, who had gained a First in English Literature there in 1882. Julia and Leonard married in 1885 and they had four children: Margaret (1899–1981), the novelist Aldous , Trevenen and Julian. Huxley
1106-595: Is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy . It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines , and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force . There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of
1185-426: Is no basic cleavage between science and religion;… I believe that [a] drastic reorganization of our pattern of religious thought is now becoming necessary, from a god-centered to an evolutionary-centred pattern." Some believe the appropriate label for these views is religious naturalism . Many people assert that this abandonment of the god hypothesis means the abandonment of all religion and all moral sanctions. This
1264-422: Is perhaps maintained by making recognition by predators more difficult. Although Huxley believed that on a broad view evolution led to advances in organisation, he rejected classical Aristotelian teleology : "The ordinary man, or at least the ordinary poet, philosopher and theologian, always was anxious to find purpose in the evolutionary process. I believe this reasoning to be totally false.". Huxley coined
1343-469: Is unquestionable. Their lesser weight in Huxley's citations was caused by the early publication date of his book. Huxley's book is not strong in palaeontology, which illustrates perfectly why Simpson's later works were such an important contribution. Huxley coined the terms the new synthesis and evolutionary synthesis ; he also invented the term cline in 1938 to refer to species whose members fall into
1422-651: The American Humanist Association 's annual "Humanist of the Year" award. Huxley also presided over the founding Congress of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and served with John Dewey , Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann on the founding advisory board of the First Humanist Society of New York. Huxley wrote that "There is no separate supernatural realm: all phenomena are part of one natural process of evolution. There
1501-604: The Gulf of Corinth in a small boat, which he ended up hauling over the Isthmus to rejoin Mastiff. In 1836, with his Mediterranean service now over, he sailed to the Arctic as scientific officer on HMS Terror under George Back . In 1838 he was given command of HMS Britomart and sailed to Australia and New Zealand, returning in 1843. While on the 'high seas' two things of some note happened to him: on 26 March 1839, he
1580-591: The Lasker Foundation in the category Planned Parenthood – World Population . Huxley came from the Huxley family on his father's side and the Arnold family on his mother's. His great-grandfather was Thomas Arnold of Rugby School , his great-uncle Matthew Arnold , and his aunt, Mrs Humphry Ward . His grandfather Thomas Henry Huxley was raised Anglican but eventually became an advocate of Agnosticism ,
1659-689: The Straits of Magellan at the tip of South America. By 1830, the 1821–1829 Greek War of Independence had ended and the United Kingdom found itself in a 'peace keeping' role about Greece in the Mediterranean once the fighting stopped. Owen Stanley found himself in the middle of these efforts. By 1831, he served as mate on board the Royal Navy's HMS Belvidera and then with Captain John Franklin on HMS Rainbow both in
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#17327730778041738-494: The University of Oxford , and started on the systematic observation of the courtship habits of water birds, such as the common redshank (a wader) and grebes (which are divers). Bird watching in childhood had given Huxley his interest in ornithology , and he helped devise systems for the surveying and conservation of birds. His particular interest was bird behaviour, especially the courtship of water birds. His 1914 paper on
1817-696: The battle of the Somme on the Western Front . The ecological geneticist E. B. Ford always remembered his openness and encouragement at the start of his career. In 1925 Huxley moved to King's College London as Professor of Zoology , but in 1927, to the amazement of his colleagues and on the prodding of H. G. Wells whom he had promised 1,000 words a day, he resigned his chair to work full-time with Wells and his son G. P. Wells on The Science of Life ( see below ). For some time Huxley retained his room at King's College, continuing as Honorary Lecturer in
1896-570: The great crested grebe , later published as a book, was a landmark in avian ethology ; his invention of vivid labels for the rituals (such as 'penguin dance', 'plesiosaurus race' etc.) made the ideas memorable and interesting to the general reader. In 1912 Huxley was asked by Edgar Odell Lovett to set up the Department of Biology at the newly created Rice Institute (now Rice University ) in Houston , Texas, which he accepted, planning to start
1975-566: The 1930s Huxley visited Kenya and other East African countries to see the conservation work, including the creation of national parks . In 1933, he was one of eleven people involved in the appeal that led to the foundation of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), an organisation for the study of birds in the British Isles. From 1933 to 1938 he was a member of the committee for Lord Hailey's African Survey. In 1935 Huxley
2054-727: The Australian coast, and after surveying the harbour described it as a very good anchorage. In 1848 he continued further north to survey New Guinea , and in June of that year offered protection and assistance to Edmund Kennedy 's expedition to the Cape York Peninsula . Owen went on to survey the Louisiade Archipelago but in 1849 fell ill, and died in March 1850 after returning to Sydney. John MacGillivray wrote
2133-589: The Huxley family grave in Watts Cemetery, Compton. Huxley grew up at the family home in Shackleford , Surrey , England, where he showed an early interest in nature, as he was given lessons by his grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley . When he heard his grandfather talking at dinner about the lack of parental care in fish, Julian piped up with "What about the stickleback , Gran'pater?". His grandfather also took him to visit Joseph Dalton Hooker at Kew. At
2212-541: The Mediterranean in 1831. In 1831, he received promotion to lieutenant and continued to serve in Grecian waters until 1836 on a number of ships. He served on HMS Kent in 1831; in 1831–1832, he served on HMS Procris ; he was aboard HMS Malabar in 1832–1834, and finished his 'Greece Assignment' on board HMS Mastiff in 1834–1836, during which time he spent eighty-four days surveying
2291-541: The US, without success. As the 1930s started, Huxley travelled widely and took part in a variety of activities which were partly scientific and partly political. In 1931 Huxley visited the USSR at the invitation of Intourist , where initially he admired the results of social and economic planning on a large scale. Later, back in the United Kingdom, he became a founding member of the think tank Political and Economic Planning . In
2370-725: The United States should join World War II : a few weeks later came the attack on Pearl Harbor . When the US joined the war, he found it difficult to get a passage back to the UK, and his lecture tour was extended. The Council of the Zoological Society—"a curious assemblage… of wealthy amateurs, self-perpetuating and autocratic" —uneasy with their secretary, used this as an opportunity to remove him. This they did by abolishing his post "to save expenses". Since Huxley had taken
2449-512: The United States. He was therefore able to learn from and influence other scientists, naturalists and administrators. In the US he was able to meet other evolutionists at a critical time in the reassessment of natural selection . In Africa he was able to influence colonial administrators about education and wildlife conservation . In Europe, through UNESCO , he was at the centre of the post- World War II revival of education. In Russia, however, his experiences were mixed. His initially favourable view
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2528-560: The Zoo Magazine. Fellows and their guests had the privilege of free entry on Sundays, a closed day to the general public. Today, that would be unthinkable, and Sundays are now open to the public. Huxley's mild suggestion (that the guests should pay) encroached on territory the Fellows thought was theirs by right. In 1941 Huxley was invited to the United States on a lecturing tour, and generated some controversy by saying that he thought
2607-724: The Zoology Department, and from 1927 to 1931 he was also Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution , where he gave an annual lectures series, but this marked the end of his life as a university academic. In 1929, after finishing work on The Science of Life , Huxley visited East Africa to advise the Colonial Office on education in British East Africa (for the most part Kenya , Uganda and Tanganyika ). He discovered that
2686-399: The age of thirteen Huxley attended Eton College as a King's Scholar , and continued to develop scientific interests; his grandfather had influenced the school to build science laboratories much earlier. At Eton he developed an interest in ornithology, guided by science master W. D. "Piggy" Hill. "Piggy was a genius as a teacher ... I have always been grateful to him." In 1905 Huxley won
2765-408: The biologists and Nobel laureates Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen , and taught and encouraged many others. In general, he was more of an all-round naturalist than his famous grandfather, and contributed much to the acceptance of natural selection. His outlook was international, and somewhat idealistic: his interest in progress and evolutionary humanism runs through much of his published work. He
2844-586: The cause of his arrest. Worse still, Lysenkoism not only denied proven genetic facts, it stopped the artificial selection of crops on Darwinian principles. This may have contributed to the regular shortage of food from the Soviet agricultural system ( Soviet famines ). Huxley, who had twice visited the Soviet Union, was originally not anti-communist, but the ruthless adoption of Lysenkoism by Joseph Stalin ended his tolerant attitude. Lysenko ended his days in
2923-496: The courtship takes place mostly after mate selection, not before. Huxley tackled the subject of evolution at full length, in what became the defining work of his life. His role was that of a synthesiser, and it helped that he had met many of the other participants. His book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis was written while he was secretary to the Zoological Society, and made use of his collection of reprints covering
3002-412: The creation of universities. There he acquired a disease, went down with hepatitis , and had a serious mental breakdown. He was completely disabled, treated with ECT , and took a full year to recover. He was 55. In 1945, Huxley proposed to melt the polar ice caps by igniting atomic bombs to moderate the world climate in the northern hemisphere, and permit shipping across the top of the world. Huxley,
3081-408: The early days… [and in] the far-reaching influence he exerted [on] the international community." In addition to his international and humanist concerns, his research interests covered evolution in all its aspects, ethology , embryology , genetics , anthropology and to some extent the infant field of cell biology . Julian's eminence as an advocate for evolution, and especially his contribution to
3160-591: The first part of the century. It was published in 1942. Reviews of the book in learned journals were little short of ecstatic; the American Naturalist called it "The outstanding evolutionary treatise of the decade, perhaps of the century. The approach is thoroughly scientific; the command of basic information amazing". Huxley's main co-respondents in the modern evolutionary synthesis are usually listed as Ernst Mayr , Theodosius Dobzhansky , George Gaylord Simpson , Bernhard Rensch , Ledyard Stebbins and
3239-607: The following year. Huxley made an exploratory trip to the United States in September 1912, visiting a number of leading universities as well as the Rice Institute. At T. H. Morgan 's fly lab ( Columbia University ) he invited H. J. Muller to join him at Rice. Muller agreed to be his deputy, hurried to complete his PhD and moved to Houston for the beginning of the 1915–1916 academic year. At Rice, Muller taught biology and continued Drosophila lab work. Before taking up
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3318-487: The international gathering for the centenary of Darwin's birth, held at the University of Cambridge . Huxley was awarded a scholarship to spend a year at the Naples Marine Biological Station, where he developed his interest in developmental biology by investigating sea squirts and sea urchins . In 1910 he was appointed as Demonstrator in the Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at
3397-468: The latter part of the twentieth century with objections from Cladists , among others, to any suggestion that one group could be scientifically described as "advanced" and another as 'primitive'. Modern assessments of these views have been surveyed in Nitecki and Dawkins. Huxley's humanism came from his appreciation that mankind was in charge of its own destiny (at least in principle), and this raised
3476-525: The mere microscopic eye-spots of early forms of life. [Over] the whole range of evolutionary time we see general advance—improvement in all the main properties of life, including its general organization. 'Advance' is thus a useful term for long-term improvement in some general property of life. [But] improvement is not universal. Lower forms manage to survive alongside higher". Huxley's views on progressive evolution were similar to those of G. Ledyard Stebbins and Bernhard Rensch , and were challenged in
3555-617: The minority of biologists who believed that natural selection was the main driving force of evolution, and that evolution occurred by small steps and not by saltation (jumps). These opinions are now standard. Though his time as an academic was quite brief, he taught and encouraged evolutionary biologists at the University of Oxford in the 1920s. Charles Elton (ecology), Alister Hardy ( marine biology ) and John Baker ( cytology ) all became highly successful, and Baker eventually wrote Huxley's Royal Society obituary memoir. Perhaps
3634-429: The modern evolutionary synthesis which took place around the time of World War II . The synthesis of genetic and population ideas produced a consensus which reigned in biology from about 1940, and which is still broadly tenable. "The most informative episode in the history of evolutionary biology was the establishment of the 'neo-Darwinian synthesis'." The synthesis was brought about "not by one side being proved right and
3713-667: The modern evolutionary synthesis, led to his awards of the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1956, and the Darwin–Wallace Medal of the Linnaean Society in 1958. 1958 was the centenary anniversary of the joint presentation On the tendency of species to form varieties; and the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection by Darwin and Wallace. Huxley was a friend and mentor of
3792-459: The modern synthesis shows indirectly those whom Huxley regarded as the most important contributors to the synthesis up to 1941 (the book was published in 1942, and references go up to 1941). The authorities cited 20 or more times are: Darlington , Darwin , Dobzhansky , Fisher , Ford , Goldschmidt , Haldane , J. S. Huxley, Muller , Rensch , Turrill , Wright . Goldschmidt was an influential geneticist who advocated evolution by saltation, and
3871-597: The more junior Army and Royal Marines rank , and in naval contexts, as a "four-ring captain" (referring to the uniform lace) to avoid confusion with the title of a seagoing commanding officer. In the Ministry of Defence , and in joint service establishments, a captain may be referred to as a "DACOS" (standing for deputy assistant chief of staff) or an "AH" (assistant head), from the usual job title of OF5-ranked individuals who work with civil servants. The rank insignia features four rings of gold braid with an executive curl in
3950-747: The most significant was Edmund Brisco Ford , who founded a field of research called ecological genetics , which played a role in the evolutionary synthesis. Another important disciple was Gavin de Beer , who wrote on evolution and development , and became director of the Natural History Museum . Both these scholars had attended Huxley's lectures on genetics , experimental zoology (including embryology ) and ethology . Later, they became his collaborators, and then leaders in their own right. In an era when scientists did not travel so frequently as today, Huxley travelled widely in Europe, Africa and
4029-418: The need for a sense of direction and a system of ethics. His grandfather T. H. Huxley , when faced with similar problems, had promoted agnosticism, but Julian chose humanism as being more directed to supplying a basis for ethics. Julian's thinking went along these lines: "The critical point in the evolution of man… was when he acquired the use of [language]… Man's development is potentially open… He has developed
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#17327730778044108-538: The others wrong, but by the exchange of the most viable components of the previously competing research strategies". Ernst Mayr, 1980. Huxley's first "trial run" was the treatment of evolution in the Science of Life (1929–30), and in 1936 he published a long and significant paper for the British Association . In 1938 came three lengthy reviews on major evolutionary topics. Two of these papers were on
4187-739: The pairs displaying to each other, and with secondary sexual characteristics equally developed in both sexes. In September 1916 Huxley returned to England from Texas to assist in the war effort. He was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant in the Royal Army Service Corps on 25 May 1917, and was transferred to the General List, working in the British Army Intelligence Corps from 26 January 1918, first in Sussex , and then in northern Italy. He
4266-495: The phrase Progress without a goal to summarise his case in Evolution the modern synthesis that evolutionary progress was "a raising of the upper level of biological efficiency, this being defined as increased control over and independence of the environment." In Evolution in action he wrote that Natural selection plus time produces biological improvement… 'Improvement' is not yet a recognised technical term in biology … however, living things are improved during evolution… Darwin
4345-440: The population geneticists J. B. S. Haldane , Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright . However, at the time of Huxley's book several of these had yet to make their distinctive contribution. Certainly, for Huxley, E. B. Ford and his co-workers in ecological genetics were at least as important; and Cyril Darlington , the chromosome expert, was a notable source of facts and ideas.An analysis of the "authorities cited" index of Evolution
4424-498: The post of assistant professor at the Rice Institute , Huxley spent a year in Germany preparing for his demanding new job. Working in a laboratory just months before the outbreak of World War I , Huxley overheard fellow academics comment on a passing aircraft, "It will not be long before those planes are flying over England." One pleasure of Huxley's life in Texas was the sight of his first hummingbird , though his visit to Edward Avery McIlhenny 's estate on Avery Island in Louisiana
4503-399: The rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century, Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains ; this practice is now defunct. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat,
4582-443: The subject of sexual selection , an idea of Darwin's whose standing has been revived in recent times. Huxley thought that sexual selection was "…merely an aspect of natural selection which… is concerned with characters which subserve mating, and are usually sex-limited ". This rather grudging acceptance of sexual selection was influenced by his studies on the courtship of the great crested grebe (and other birds that pair for life):
4661-476: The upper ring. When in mess dress or mess undress, officers of the rank of captain and above wear gold-laced trousers (the trousers are known as "tin trousers", and the gold lace stripes thereon are nicknamed "lightning conductors"), and may wear the undress tailcoat (without epaulettes). Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist , eugenicist , and internationalist . He
4740-493: The wildlife on the Serengeti plain was almost undisturbed because the tsetse fly (the vector for the trypanosome parasite which causes sleeping sickness in humans) prevented human settlement there. He tells about these experiences in Africa view (1931), and so does his wife. She reveals that he fell in love with an 18-year-old American girl on board ship (when Juliette was not present), and then presented Juliette with his ideas for an open marriage: "What Julian really wanted
4819-415: The years in Paris are well described by his wife. Huxley's internationalist and conservation interests also led him, with Victor Stolan , Sir Peter Scott , Max Nicholson and Guy Mountfort , to set up the WWF ( World Wide Fund for Nature under its former name of the World Wildlife Fund ). Another post-war activity was Huxley's attack on the Soviet politico-scientist Trofim Lysenko , who had espoused
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#17327730778044898-407: Was a Christian, whilst Huxley was an atheist. Huxley wrote the foreword to The Phenomenon of Man (1959) and was bitterly attacked by his rationalist friends for doing so. On Huxley's death at 87 on 14 February 1975, John Owen (Director of National Parks for Tanganyika ) wrote, "Julian Huxley was one of the world's great men … he played a seminal role in wild life conservation in [East] Africa in
4977-536: Was a proponent of natural selection , and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century modern synthesis . He was secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935–1942), the first director of UNESCO , a founding member of the World Wildlife Fund , the president of the British Eugenics Society (1959–1962), and the first president of the British Humanist Association . Huxley was well known for his presentation of science in books and articles, and on radio and television. He directed an Oscar-winning wildlife film. He
5056-400: Was a pupil at Prior's Field, Compton, the school his mother had founded and run. During 1913 the relationship broke down and Huxley had a nervous breakdown which a biographer described as caused by 'conflict between desire and guilt'. In the first months of 1914 Huxley had severe depression and lived for some weeks at The Hermitage, a small private nursing home. In August 1914 while Huxley
5135-409: Was advanced in grade within the Intelligence Corps on 3 May 1918, relinquished his intelligence appointment on 10 January 1919 and was demobilised five days later, retaining his rank. After the war he became a Fellow at New College, Oxford , and was made Senior Demonstrator in the University Department of Zoology. In fact, Huxley took the place of his old tutor Geoffrey Smith, who had been killed in
5214-445: Was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron , and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War . The title was probably used informally up until the abolition of frigate and destroyer squadrons with the Fleet FIRST reorganisation circa 2001. Ashore, the rank of captain is often verbally described as "captain RN" to distinguish it from
5293-430: Was appointed secretary to the Zoological Society of London , and spent much of the next seven years running the society and its zoological gardens, the London Zoo and Whipsnade Park , alongside his writing and research. The previous Director, Peter Chalmers Mitchell , had been in post for many years, and had skillfully avoided conflict with the Fellows and Council. Things were rather different when Huxley arrived. Huxley
5372-416: Was awarded UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science in 1953, the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1956, and the Darwin–Wallace Medal of the Linnaean Society in 1958. He was also knighted in the 1958 New Year Honours , a hundred years after Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace announced the theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1956 he received a Special Award from
5451-405: Was born on 22 June 1887, at the London house of his aunt. His mother opened a school in Compton, Guildford in 1902 and died in 1908, when he was 21. In 1912, his father married Rosalind Bruce, who was the same age as Julian, and he later acquired half-brothers Andrew Huxley and David Huxley. In 1911, Huxley became informally engaged to Kathleen Fordham, whom he had met some years earlier when she
5530-403: Was changed by his growing awareness of Stalin's murderous repression, and the Lysenko affair. There seems little evidence that he had any effect on the Soviet Union , and the same could be said for some other Western scientists. "Marxist-Leninism had become a dogmatic religion… and like all dogmatic religions, it had turned from reform to persecution." Huxley was one of the main architects of
5609-419: Was in Scotland, his brother Trevenen also had a nervous breakdown and stayed in the same nursing home. Trevenen was worried about how he had treated one of his women friends and committed suicide whilst there. In 1919, Huxley married Juliette Baillot (1896–1994) a French Swiss woman whom he had met while she was employed as a governess at Garsington Manor , the country house of Lady Ottoline Morrell . Huxley
5688-677: Was later unfaithful to Baillot and told her that he wanted an open marriage. One of his affairs was with the poet May Sarton who in turn fell in love with Baillot and had a brief affair with her as well. Huxley described himself in print as suffering from manic depression, and his wife's autobiography suggests that Julian Huxley suffered from a bipolar disorder . He relied on his wife to provide moral and practical support throughout his life. Sir Julian and Lady Juliette Huxley had two sons: Anthony Huxley (1920–1992) and Francis Huxley (1923–2016), who both became scientists. His ashes are buried with his wife, son Anthony, parents and brother at
5767-469: Was more significant. The McIlhennys and their Avery cousins owned the entire island, and the McIlhenny branch used it to produce their famous Tabasco sauce . Birds were one of McIlhenny's passions, however, and around 1895 he had set up a private sanctuary on the island, called Bird City. There Huxley found egrets , herons and bitterns . These water birds, like the grebes, exhibit mutual courtship, with
5846-529: Was not a skilled administrator; his wife said "He was impatient… and lacked tact". He instituted a number of changes and innovations, more than some approved of. For example, Huxley introduced a whole range of ideas designed to make the Zoo child-friendly. Today, this would pass without comment; but then it was more controversial. He fenced off the Fellows' Lawn to establish Pets Corner; he appointed new assistant curators, encouraging them to talk to children; he initiated
5925-407: Was not afraid to use the word for the results of natural selection in general… I believe that improvement can become one of the key concepts in evolutionary biology. Can it be scientifically defined? Improvements in biological machinery… the limbs and teeth of grazing horses… the increase in brain-power… The eyes of a dragon-fly, which can see all round [it] in every direction, are an improvement over
6004-475: Was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto . Huxley and biologist August Weismann insisted on natural selection as the primary agent in evolution . Huxley was a major player in the mid-twentieth century modern evolutionary synthesis. He was a prominent populariser of biological science to the public , with a focus on three aspects in particular. In the early 20th century he was one of
6083-653: Was promoted to commander ; and, in March 1842, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . In 1843–1846 he was assigned shore duty. During that time, on 23 September 1844, he was promoted to captain at the age of 33. In December 1846 Stanley sailed from Portsmouth in charge of HMS Rattlesnake , with the naturalists Thomas Huxley , John MacGillivray and artist Oswald Walters Brierly on board, accompanied by Charles Bampfield Yule in HMS ; Bramble . In November 1847 he arrived at Port Curtis on
6162-399: Was sometimes mentioned in disagreement. Turrill provided Huxley with botanical information. The list omits three key members of the synthesis who are listed above: Mayr , Stebbins the botanist and Simpson the palaeontologist. Mayr gets 16 citations and more in the two later editions; all three published outstanding and relevant books some years later, and their contribution to the synthesis
6241-414: Was … a definite freedom from the conventional bonds of marriage." The couple separated for a while; Julian travelled to the US, hoping to land a suitable appointment and, in due course, to marry Miss Weldmeier. He left no account of what transpired, but he was evidently not successful, and returned to England to resume his marriage in 1931. For the next couple of years Huxley still angled for an appointment in
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