Huxley, T(homas) H(enry) 1825-95
English biologist

He was born in Ealing, Middlesex, the son of a schoolmaster. He studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, and entered the Royal Navy medical service. As assistant surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake on a surveying expedition to the South Seas (1846-50), he collected and studied specimens of marine animals, particularly plankton. From 1854 to 1885 he was Professor of Natural History at the Royal School of Mines in London, and made significant contributions to palaeontology and comparative anatomy, including studies of dinosaurs, coelenterates, and the relationship between birds and reptiles. He was best known as the foremost scientific supporter of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection during the heated debates which followed its publication, tackling Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in a celebrated exchange at the British Association meeting in Oxford (1860), when he declared that he would rather be descended from an ape than a bishop. He wrote Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (1863). He also studied fossils, and influenced the teaching of biology and science in schools as a member of the London Schools Board. Later he turned to theology and philosophy, and coined the term 'agnostic' for his views. He wrote Lay Sermons (1870), Science and Culture (1881), Evolution and Ethics (1893) and Science and Education (published posthumously in 1899).

Bibliography: Cyril Bibby, T H Huxley, Scientist, Humanist, and Educator (1959)