C. Lloyd (Conwy Lloyd) Morgan

Born in London on February 6, 1852, Conwy Lloyd Morgan first trained with engineering in mind at the Royal School of Mines, but his career turned toward biology and psychology. He went on to become one of the early figures in comparative psychology, bringing an experimental mindset to the study of how animals learn and behave.

Morgan is most often remembered for Morgan’s Canon, a principle that argues we should not explain an animal’s behavior by assuming a higher mental process if a simpler explanation will do. That idea became hugely influential in psychology and animal behavior studies, especially as researchers tried to make the field more rigorous and less dependent on guesswork or anthropomorphism.

He was also associated with the idea of emergent evolution and had a long academic career in Britain, including work at University College, Bristol. Morgan died in Hastings on March 6, 1936, but his name still comes up whenever scientists discuss how to interpret animal minds with caution and clarity.