Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester

Born in 1847, E. Ray Lankester became one of Britain’s best-known zoologists and an influential defender of evolutionary science. He studied at Oxford and built a career around comparative anatomy, invertebrate zoology, and the larger question of how living things develop and change over time.

His work took him into some of the most important scientific institutions of his day. He served as Linacre Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Oxford, later moved to London, and became director of the Natural History Museum. He was also active in the Royal Society and was knighted for his contributions to science.

Lankester wrote not only for specialists but for general readers as well. In essays and books, he had a clear, lively way of explaining biology, evolution, and the strange ingenuity of nature, which helped make him an important public voice for science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.