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" J. Arthur Thomson: Aberdeen Professor and Public Intellectual"
J. Arthur Thomson (1861-1933) was Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen from 1899 until his retirement in 1930. When appointed he was already well-known as the co-author, with Patrick Geddes, of the controversial Evolution of Sex (1889), and the two would later collaborate on several self-education texts on the life sciences. They promoted a ‘neo-vitalist’ approach in which organisms were thought to play an active role in their interactions with the environment and hence in shaping their species’ evolution, a position increasingly out of step with developments in the scientific community. Thomson also published an influential survey of the debates over heredity surrounding the emergence of genetics. But he was best known as a public lecturer (both locally and nationally) and popular author on natural history and the life sciences, publishing dozens of books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. By focusing on animal behaviour and ecological relationships, he encouraged ordinary readers to gain a sense of the complexity of the living world. He was also active in a campaign to reconcile a non-materialist interpretation of science with liberal Christian belief, focused especially on a modified version of Darwinism that allowed evolution to be presented as a progressive and purposeful process culminating in the emergence of humanity and our sense of morality.
- Speaker
- Peter J. Bowler, Queen's University Belfast
- Hosted by
- Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine
- Venue
- TBC
- Contact
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All welcome!