Theodore Thomson Flynn

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Theodore Thomson Flynn (born October 11, 1883 in Coraki , † October 23, 1968 in Liss (Hampshire) , United Kingdom ) was an Australian zoologist and marine biologist .

Life

Theodore Thomson Flynn was born on October 11, 1883 in Coraki, New South Wales to the beverage syrup maker John Thompson Flynn and his wife Jessie, née Thomson. He was taught at Fort Street High School in Sydney , later attended the Sydney Training College for Teachers and finally the University of Sydney , where he received his Bachelor of Science ( B.Sc. ) in 1907 . From 1907 to 1909 he taught at various schools in Newcastle and Maitland .

On January 23, 1909, he married Lily Mary (Marelle) Young, a descendant of Edward "Ned" Young, midshipman and mutineer of the Bounty, in Sydney . Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to Hobart , where Flynn taught biology at the University of Tasmania . Their son Errol , who later became a film actor and Hollywood star , was born in Hobart on June 20, 1909 .

Ralston Professorship at the University of Tasmania

In early 1911, the University of Tasmania gained access to large sums of money through a foundation inherited from the recently deceased John Ralston. In the negotiations between the university and the foundation administration it was decided that a new chair for biology ("Ralston-Professur") should be established, for which Flynn was proposed as the first "Ralston professor". The results of the negotiations were published on February 24, 1911 in the daily newspaper "The Mercury". Flynn should deal primarily with research on fungal and bacterial diseases of the Tasmanian fauna and flora, generally with topics on bacteriology as well as with the anatomy and development of the Tasmanian marsupials . Another, originally planned research focus on the "natural history and development of economically viable fish in Tasmania" was temporarily suspended.

Flynn had previously done research on the anatomy of Tasmanian marsupials and on March 1, 1911, the day he was actually supposed to take up his position as "Ralston Professor", a paper on the female reproductive organs of the marsupial appeared .

From November 12 to December 14, 1912, he was a biologist on board the Aurora on its voyage to Macquarie Island . The trip was carried out as part of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE; 1911-1914) under the direction of Douglas Mawson , shortly before the Aurora set out again for the Antarctic to pick up Mawson and his men from their base camp in the Commonwealth Bay .

Prosqualodon davidis ; Skull replica

In addition to his work on the embryology of marsupials, for which he received a doctorate from the University of Sydney in 1921, he began to be increasingly interested in marine biology and from 1915 he was responsible for fisheries matters as a "royal commissioner". In this context, he not only published several works on woodlouse spiders , but also examined the dramatic decline in the scallop stocks in the Derwent estuary in 1918/19.

In December 1919 Flynn's second child, daughter Norah Rosemary, was born.

In the 1920s, Flynn continued to work on his two main areas of interest, the marsupials and the woodlouse spiders, but also found opportunities to devote himself to other topics. Around 1922/23, for example, he published a short work on a freshwater sponge that an enthusiastic hobby researcher had found in the area around Wynyard , as well as the description of the carcass of a rare Layard whale that washed ashore in 1918 in Recherche Bay . From 1920 onwards he devoted several works to the fossil remains of a toothed whale ( Prosqualodon davidis ), which he himself had found in the area around Wynyard. However, he completely ignored Mawson's multiple requests to write a paper on the collected woodlouse spiders for the AAE's expedition reports.

Professor at Queen's University Belfast

In 1930 he left Hobart for London, where he wanted to continue his research on marsupial embryology and to raise funds for the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to finance a planned expedition to the southwest of Tasmania. On July 31, 1931, "The Mercury" reported that Flynn had succeeded in obtaining commitments in England to provide financial support for the project at half the estimated cost. But Flynn had achieved more in Europe. As early as January 1931, the Rockefeller Foundation assured him and his colleague James Peter Hill financial support in researching the development of germs in monotonous animals , and in June 1931 he was offered the chair of zoology at Queen's University Belfast . In the autumn of 1931 he returned shortly to Hobart to settle his affairs there and to submit his last annual report to the Ralston Foundation. The reason for his sudden move to Europe is probably that the Ralston Foundation had decided to cut Flynn's generous salary as a “Ralston Professor” to the level of a simple teaching position.

Flynn stayed at Queen's University until his retirement in 1948. Between 1939 and 1947, together with Hill, he published several works on the development of germs in monotremes. At the same time he dealt with "his" Prosqualodon davidis again . A more detailed description of the fossil whale was published shortly before its retirement. In addition to teaching and research, Flynn was director of Queen's University marine biology station at Portaferry .

During the Second World War he was employed in the course of the Belfast Blitz as Chief Casualty Officer in civil defense. In 1945 he was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

retirement

After his retirement, Flynn first retired to Jamaica , where his son Errol owned a large estate. In the early 1950s he maintained close contact there with the Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks , who in 1953 dedicated her opera “ The Transposed Heads ” to him. A few years later, however, he returned to England, again with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, to work on the academic legacy of his colleague Hill, who had recently died.

Theodore Thomson Flynn died on October 23, 1968 in a nursing home in Liss, Hampshire.

Dedication names

Pycnothea flynni

Trivia

In Errol Flynn's short documentary film “Cruise of the Zaca”, Theodore Thomson Flynn can be seen alongside the American ichthyologist Carl Hubbs .

literature

  • Tony and Vicki Harrison: Theodore Thompson Flynn - Not just Errol's father. Artemis, Hobart, 2013, ISBN 978-0-64-659478-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h W. Bryden: Flynn, Theodore Thomson (1883–1968). In: Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 8, 1981, text10659 ( online )
  2. ^ A b c Th. McNulty: Errol Flynn - The Life and Career. McFarland & Company, Jefferson (North Carolina) & London, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7864-6898-0 , pp. 5ff, ( preview ).
  3. ↑ a b NN: University Chair of Biology - Agreement with the Ralston Trustees - Mr. Flynn Appointed to the Chair. In: The Mercury , Volume XCV, Number 12768, February 24, 1911, p. 7, ( digitized ).
  4. ^ TT Flynn: Contributions to a Knowledge of the Anatomy and Development of the Marsupialia - No. I. The Genitalia of Sarcophilus satanicus (♀). In: Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales , Volume 35, Number 140, 1911, pp. 873-887, ( digitized ).
  5. ^ JK Davis: The Soundings of the Antarctic Ship "Aurora" between Tasmania and the Antarctic Continent (1912). In: The Geographical Journal , Volume 42, Number 4, 1913, pp. 361-362, ( digitized ).
  6. ^ TT Flynn: Two new Australian Pycnogonida. In: Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania , Volume 1918, 1919, pp. 91-100, ( digitized ).
  7. ↑ TT Flynn: A re-examination of Professor Haswell's types of Australian Pycnogonida. In: Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania , Volume 1919, 1920, pp. 70-92, ( digitized version ).
  8. ^ RA Perrin & PR Hay: A history of the Tasmanian scallop industry: diagnosing problems of management. In: Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania , Volume 121, 1987, pp. 1-14, ( digitized ).
  9. ↑ TT Flynn: On a Fresh-Water Sponge from Tasmania. In: Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania , Volume 1923, 1923, pp. 58-59, ( digitized ).
  10. ^ TT Flynn: Occurrence of the Rare Whale, Mesoplodon Layardi, on the Tasmanian Coast. In: Nature , Volume 110, 1922, p. 379, ( Abstract ).
  11. ↑ TT Flynn: Squalodont remains from the Tertiary strata of Tasmania. In: Nature , Volume 106, Number 2665, 1920, pp. 406-407, ( digitized ).
  12. ^ TT Flynn: A Whale of Bygone Days. In: The Australian Museum Magazine , Volume 1, Number 9, 1923, pp. 266-272, ( digitized ).
  13. ^ Ph. Ayres: Mawson: A Life. Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, 2003, ISBN 0-522-85078-2 , p. 148, ( preview ).
  14. ^ NN: South-West Tasmania - Proposed Expedition - £ 1,500 Available in England - Professor Flynn's Statement. In: The Mercury , Volume CXXXV, Number 19962, July 31, 1931, p. 6, ( digitized version ).
  15. ^ NN: Ralston Trust - Research in Biology - Professor Flynn's Report. In: The Mercury , Volume CXXXV, Number 20008, September 23, 1931, p. 9, ( digitized version ).
  16. ^ R. Davis: Open to Talent: The Centenary History of the University of Tasmania 1890-1990. The University of Tasmania, 1990, ISBN 0-908528-18-3 , p. 79, ( digitized ).
  17. ^ TT Flynn & JP Hill: The Development of the Monotremata. - Part IV. Growth of the Ovarian Ovum, Maturation, Fertilization, and Early Cleavage. In: The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London , Volume 24, 1939, pp. 445-622, ( abstract ).
  18. ↑ TT Flynn & JP Hill: The Later Stages of Cleavage and the Formation of the Primary Germ Layers in the Monotremata (Preliminary Communication). In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London , Volume A3, 1942, pp. 233-253, ( abstract ).
  19. ^ TT Flynn & JP Hill: The Development of the Monotremata. - Part VI. The Later Stages of Cleavage and the Formation of the Primary Germ-layers. In: The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London , Volume 26, Part I, 1947, pp. 1-151, ( abstract ).
  20. ↑ TT Flynn: Description of Prosqualodon davidi Flynn, a Fossil Cetacean from Tasmania. In: The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London , Volume 26, Part II, 1948, pp. 153-197, ( abstract ).
  21. ↑ a b NN: Zoology at Belfast: Prof. TT Flynn, MBE In: Nature , Volume 162, Number 4108, 1948, p. 135, ( digitized version ).
  22. ↑ a b D. Clode: Tony and Vicki Anderson: Theodore Thomson Flynn: Not just Errol's father. In: Historical Records of Australian Science , Volume 25, Number 2, 2014, pp. 364–365, ( digitized ).
  23. ^ J. Murdoch: Peggy Glanville-Hicks: A Transposed Life. Lives in Music Series No. 5, Pendragon Press, Hillsdale NY, 2002, ISBN 1-57647-077-6 , pp. 102ff, ( reading sample ).
  24. ^ J. Meyers: Inherited Risk: Errol and Sean Flynn in Hollywood and Vietnam. Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7432-1090-4 , p. 332, ( reading sample ).
  25. ^ WB Benham: Polychaeta. in Australian Antarctic Expedition 1911-1914, Scientific Reports, Series C - Zoology and Botany , Volume 6, Number 3, 1921, pp. 1–128, ( digitized ).
  26. ^ G. Williams: Contributions to the Fauna of Rottnest Island. 11. - Pycnogonida of Western Australia. In: Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia , Volume 25, 1940, pp. 197-205, ( digitized ).
  27. ^ A. Dendy: On some Land-Planarians collected in Western Australia and Tasmania by Members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London , Volume 1915, 1915, pp. 693-703, ( digitized ).
  28. ↑ L. Winsor: A provisional classification of Australian terrestrial geoplanid flatworms (Tricladia: Terricola: Geoplanidae). In: The Victorian Naturalist , Volume 108, Number 2, 1991, pp. 42-49, ( digitized ).
  29. ^ Th. McNulty: Errol Flynn - The Life and Career. McFarland & Company, Jefferson (North Carolina) & London, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7864-6898-0 , p. 326, ( preview ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Flynn, Theodore Thomson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian marine biologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Coraki
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1968
Place of death Liss, Hampshire , United Kingdom