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Sir John Arthur Thomson
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Sir John Arthur Thomson

Scottish naturalist
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Quick Facts
Born:
July 8, 1861, Salton, East Lothian, Scot.
Died:
Feb. 12, 1933, Limpsfield, Surrey, Eng. (aged 71)
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Sir John Arthur Thomson (born July 8, 1861, Salton, East Lothian, Scot.—died Feb. 12, 1933, Limpsfield, Surrey, Eng.) was a Scottish naturalist whose clearly written books on biology and attempts to correlate science and religion led to wider public awareness of progress in the biological sciences.

A professor of natural history at the University of Aberdeen (1899–1930), Thomson concentrated his research on soft corals. He collaborated with the biologist Sir Patrick Geddes in writing several popular books, including The Evolution of Sex (1889), Evolution (1911), Sex (1914), Biology (1924), and Life: Outlines of General Biology (1931). Thomson also wrote Outlines of Zoology (9th ed. 1944), The Wonder of Life (1914), and Science and Religion (1925). He was knighted in 1930.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.