Sydney J. (Sydney John) Hickson

author

Sydney J. (Sydney John) Hickson

1859–1940

A British zoologist who built his reputation through close study of corals, marine life, and evolutionary questions, he combined fieldwork in the Malay Archipelago with a long academic career in Manchester. His work helped shape how zoology was taught and studied in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century.

2 Audiobooks

The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)

The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 01 (of 10)

by Marcus Hartog, Sydney J. (Sydney John) Hickson, E. W. (Ernest William) MacBride, Igerna Brünhilda Johnson Sollas

The fauna of the deep sea

The fauna of the deep sea

by Sydney J. (Sydney John) Hickson

About the author

Born on 25 June 1859 and dying on 6 February 1940, Sydney John Hickson was a British zoologist best known for research in evolution, embryology, genetics, systematics, and especially corals. He traveled in the Malay Archipelago in 1885–1886, and that field experience became an important part of his scientific reputation.

In 1894 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester, a post he held until 1926. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1895, and later served as President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society from 1915 to 1917.

Records from Manchester describe him as a leading marine biologist and a world expert on corals, and many coral specimens connected with his work are preserved in museum collections and archives. Accounts of his life also note his interest in applying Darwinian ideas and his attention to newer developments in genetics, showing a scientist engaged with big biological questions as well as careful specimen-based study.