Gavin Rylands de Beer

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Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer (born November 1, 1899 in Malden , Surrey , now part of Greater London , England, † June 21, 1972 in Alfriston , Sussex , England) was an English zoologist and morphologist .

Life

De Beer went to school in Paris (École Pascal) and during this time often visited Switzerland, which resulted in a lifelong fascination for the Alps and Switzerland, which was also reflected in several books. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Zoology in 1921. His teachers included JBS Haldane , Edwin Stephen Goodrich and Julian Huxley . He became a Fellow of Merton College in Oxford and taught from 1926 to 1938 in Oxford and from 1938 as a reader at University College London , from 1945 as a professor of zoology. During the Second World War he worked for the secret service and in psychological warfare and served at times (as in the First World War) in the Grenadier Guards. He was director of the British Museum of Natural History from 1950 to 1960 . In retirement from 1960, he lived in Switzerland, but returned to England in 1971.

He is known for his contributions to experimental embryology , anatomy and evolution . De Beer analyzed developmental processes and wrote Introduction to Experimental Embryology (1926); An important contribution to this topic was Development of the Vertebrate Skull (1935). His preoccupation with experimental embryology in the 1920s and 1930s resulted in a book with Julian Huxley, one of his teachers. He emphasized the importance of heterochrony in evolution, especially pedomorphosis and neoteny , that is, changes in the early development of individuals that are not reflected in the fossil record of adult specimens and thus contribute to apparent leaps in evolution.

From his preoccupation with the evolution of birds (especially Archeopteryx ), contributions to the theory of mosaic evolution emerged .

In 1940 he was elected as a member (" Fellow ") in the Royal Society , which in 1958 awarded him the Darwin Medal . Since 1952 he was a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . In 1954 he was knighted . In 1958 he was awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London , of which he was president from 1946 to 1949. Gavin Rylands de Beer was awarded the Kalinga Prize for Popularizing Science in 1968 .

He also wrote books about Hannibal , the Alps and travelers in the Alps, the first ascent of Mont Blanc , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Edward Gibbon .

De Beer was the first to propose that Hannibal's crossing of the Alps was via the Col de la Traversette . This thesis was reinforced by the report by Mahaney et al. in 2016, which showed that the Col de la Traversette was covered with sediments that were created by "the constant movement of thousands of animals and people" and that could be dated to the time of Hannibal's invasion.

Works (selection)

  • Embryology and Evolution , Oxford: Clarendon Press 1930.
  • Embryos and Ancestors , Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1940, 3rd edition 1958
  • Vertebrate Zoology: an Introduction to the Comparative Anatomy, Embryology and Evolution of Chordate Animals , London: Sidgwick and Jackson 1928, 1962, 1967
  • Archeopteryx Lithographica , British Museum of Natural History 1954
  • A Handbook on Evolution , 4th edition, British Museum of Natural History 1970
  • with Julian Huxley: The Elements of Experimental Embryology , Oxford, Clarendon Press 1934, 1963
  • Introduction to Experimental Embryology , Oxford, Clarendon Press 1926
  • Atlas of Evolution , London: Nelson 1964
    • German edition: Bildatlas der Evolution , Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag 1966
  • Charles Darwin: Evolution by natural selection , London: Nelson 1963, Greenwood Press 1976
  • The Development of the Vertebrate Skull , Oxford: Clarendon Press 1937, University of Chicago Press 1985
  • Reflections of a Darwinian: Essays and Adresses , Nelson 1962

Outside of biology:

  • Sciences were never at war , London: Nelson 1960
  • Hannibal, challenging Rome's supremacy , Viking Press 1969
  • Hannibal: the struggle of power in the mediterranean , Thames and Hudson 1969
    • German translation Hannibal - a life against Rome , Heyne Verlag 1991
  • Gibbon and his world , Viking Press 1968
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his world , New York: Putnam 1972
  • Alps and Men , London: E. Arnold 1932
  • Early travelers in the Alps , Sidgwick and Jackson 1930
  • Alps and Elephants: Hannibal's March , London: Dutton 1956
  • Escape to Switzerland , Penguin 1945
  • Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum , Oxford University Press 1953
  • Travelers in Switzerland , Oxford University Press 1949
  • with Graham Brown Thomas: First Ascent of Mont Blanc , Oxford University Press 1957
  • Speaking of Switzerland , Eyre and Spottiswoode 1952

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter B. Académie des sciences, accessed on September 17, 2019 (French).
  2. ^ Dung clue to Hannibal's Alpine crossing . BBC. April 4, 2016.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Beer, Gavin Rylands de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English zoologist and morphologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Malden
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1972
Place of death Al Friston