Biologists 20th century
Francis Harry Compton Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist and neuroscientist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1962.
During World War II he had to work on developments for the military, and in 1947 he turned to biology at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge. In 1949 he moved to the University Medical Research Council at Cavendish Laboratories. Using X-ray diffraction studies of DNA by biophysicist Maurice Wilkins (1916-2004) and X-ray diffraction images taken by Rosalind Franklin, biophysicist James Watson and Crick were able to construct a molecular model consistent with the known physical and chemical properties of DNA.
This achievement became a cornerstone of genetics and was regarded as one of the most important discoveries of 20th century biology. In 1962, Francis Crick, along with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for determining the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical ultimately responsible for the hereditary control of life functions.
From 1977 until the end of his life, Crick served as professor emeritus at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, where he conducted research on the neurological basis of consciousness. He also wrote several books. In 1991, Francis Crick received the Order of Merit.
Alphonse Dubois, full name Alphonse Joseph Charles Dubois, was a Belgian naturalist and physician.
Alphonse Dubois had a doctorate in medicine and in 1869 became curator of vertebrate animals at the Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels. He worked with his father, the academician Charles-Frédéric Dubois (1804-1867), on the publication Les Oiseaux de l'Europe et leurs œufs (The Birds of Europe and their Eggs), completing it after his father's death. The book consisted of two volumes, the second of which consisted of illustrations by Dubois Sr.
William Henry Edwards was an American amateur naturalist, entomologist, and businessman.
Edwards was a pioneer in the West Virginia coal industry, opening some of the earliest mines in the southern part of the state. He was also an accomplished naturalist and widely recognized as an authority on North American butterflies. As a businessman, he was involved in the coal industry, but the study of butterflies remained his passion.
During his lifetime he published some 250 scientific papers on scales, including a three-volume treatise, Butterflies of North America, which is highly regarded for its scholarship and the quality of its illustrations. Edwards paid great attention to the life stages of the insects in question, describing each stage in detail. The illustrations, on the other hand, were drawn by Mary Pirt, a talented Pennsylvania artist, and hand-colored by Lydia Brown.
Theophilus Johnson was a British artist, amateur naturalist and publisher.
He trained as a clerical worker and then started his own printing business. Johnson had a passion for the natural sciences and spent much time in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. His drawings and books cover a wide range of topics, from molluscs to mammals, but his main interest was entomology.
Theophilus Johnson's publications on entomology depict the various species of moths found in the British Isles on beautifully colored watercolor sheets, and include illustrations of their larvae as well as the plants they feed on. During his lifetime he illustrated more than 46 volumes with original watercolors.
Frederic Moore was a British illustrator, naturalist and entomologist.
Moore worked for many years as assistant curator for the East India Company at the London Museum and discovered many species of butterflies. He also published six volumes on the butterflies of South Asia (Lepidoptera Indica) and a catalog of birds in the East India Company's collection.
Frederic Moore was a member of the Linnean Society of London and the Entomological Society of London.
Seth Lister Mosley was a British artist, naturalist and ornithologist.
Although Mosley had no specialized training, he came from a naturalist's family and from a young age was involved in the study of natural history. He visited almost every museum in Britain and became one of the foremost British naturalists in the late nineteenth century.
Mosley was widely known as a taxidermist, illustrator, naturalist, magazine editor, and newspaper columnist. He managed several private museums in Huddersfield before being appointed Keeper of Collections at Huddersfield Technical College, and in 1922 he became the first curator of the Tolson Memorial Museum.
Robert Henry Fernando Rippon was a British zoologist, entomologist and illustrator.
Rippon was a musician, but later became passionate about natural history. In the 1860s he made a collecting trip to Panama, New Grenada and South America, and around the same time his talent as a natural history artist developed.
In 1890, Rippon began work on a multi-volume work on the butterfly-birdwings Icones Ornithopterum. He wrote the text himself, drew, lithographed, and hand-colored the plates. The work, eventually published in 25 parts, became his "principal and almost all-purpose occupation" for nearly 20 years.
After Rippon's death, his vast collection was donated to the Natural History Museum. The insects alone numbered 105,760, including more than 21,000 butterflies and 17,000 moths.
James Dewey Watson was an American geneticist and biophysicist who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
At the age of 15, Watson enrolled at the University of Chicago, then attended Indiana University, earning advanced degrees. After working at the University of Copenhagen, where he first decided to investigate DNA, he conducted research at the Cavendish Laboratory (1951-53). There, Watson learned the techniques of X-ray diffraction and worked with Francis Crick on the problem of DNA structure.
Their joint discovery was a key factor in allowing Watson and Crick to formulate the molecular model of DNA, a double helix, similar to a spiral staircase. It played a crucial role in discovering the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, the substance underlying heredity. For this achievement, he was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.
James Watson subsequently taught at Harvard University (1955-76), where he served as professor of biology. He conducted research on the role of nucleic acids in protein synthesis. In 1965, he published The Molecular Biology of the Gene, which became one of the modern biology textbooks. From 1988 to 1992, Watson directed the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. James Dewey Watson is an honorary member of numerous universities and academies around the world, he has received dozens of honors and awards, and he has written numerous books.
