author

Cecil von Bonde

1895–1983

Drawn to the living world beneath the waves, this South African scientist wrote with the clarity of a teacher and the curiosity of a field researcher. His books connect zoology, marine science, and the practical work of understanding sea life.

1 Audiobook

Dissection of the Platana and the Frog

Dissection of the Platana and the Frog

by Cecil von Bonde, J. D. F. (John Dow Fisher) Gilchrist

About the author

Born in Cape Town in 1895, Cecil von Bonde became a South African zoologist, fisheries scientist, and oceanographer. He studied at the University of Cape Town, earned a PhD in zoology in 1923, and also spent time at the University of Liverpool studying oceanography and lecturing in zoology.

His career moved between academic work and public science. After teaching zoology, he became the first full-time director of South Africa's Fisheries and Marine Biological Survey in 1928, helping shape research connected to fisheries and marine life. Sources also credit him with a practical, hands-on approach to marine biology rather than a purely academic one.

As an author, he wrote textbooks and scientific works including Comparative Zoology, Dissection of the Platana and the Frog (with J. D. F. Gilchrist), and the later book So Great Thy Sea. No clear, verified portrait image was available from the sources I checked, so I have left the profile image blank.