J. Arthur (John Arthur) Thomson

Born in East Lothian, Scotland, in 1861, J. Arthur Thomson became one of the best-known scientific writers of his day. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and later taught at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College before serving from 1899 to 1930 as Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen.

Thomson was a zoologist with a special interest in marine life, including soft corals, but he reached far beyond specialist science. He wrote many popular books on biology and evolution, and readers valued the clear, inviting way he explained complex ideas. He also became well known for exploring how scientific thought and religious belief might speak to one another rather than simply clash.

His work helped many non-specialist readers keep up with the fast-changing biological sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Knighted in 1930, he remains remembered not only as a naturalist, but as a gifted interpreter of science for the wider public.