Biography of Thomas Henry Huxley


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Huxley, Thomas Henry. An English biologist and essayist. Born in Ealing, England, May 4, 1825. He was graduated at London University in 1845. In 1846-1850 he sailed around the world as a naval surgeon. In 1851 he was made F.R.S. by the Royal Society; he became professor of natural history in the School of Mines in 1854. Hunterian professor in the Royal College of Surgeons in 1863; president of the British Geological and Ethnological Societies in 1869; secretary of the Royal Society in 1872; Lord Rector of Aberdeen University in 1872; president of the Royal Society in 1883. He was an able advocate of Darwinian evolution, and was perhaps best known to the popular apprehension by his agnostic speculations, in expounding which he came into controversy with the defenders of Theism and Christianity. Huxley wrote a number of scientific works. He died in Eastbourne, England, June 29, 1895.