Akademik

A grandson of T.H. Huxley, Julian Huxley was born in London and graduated in zoology from Oxford University in 1909. He did research on sponges (Porifera) at the Naples Zoological Station (1909–10) before taking up the post of lecturer in biology at Oxford (1910–12). From 1912 until 1916 he worked at the Rice Institute, Houston, Texas, where he met the famous American geneticist Hermann Muller. Before returning to Oxford to take up the post of senior demonstrator in zoology (1919–25) he saw war service in Italy. He was next appointed professor of zoology at King's College, London (1925–27), resigning from this post to devote more time to writing and research.

Huxley was a keen ornithologist and published, in 1914, a classic paper on the courtship of the great crested grebe. In the 1930s he was involved in the production of natural-history films, the most notable of which was the highly praised Private Life of the Gannet (1934), which he produced with the help of R.M. Lockley. One of the leading popularizers of science of modern times (especially the years before and just after World War II), Huxley spent much of his life explaining advances in natural science to the layman and in advocating the application of science to the benefit of mankind. To many he is best remembered as a most capable and lucid educationalist, but Huxley was also eminent in many other fields.

In 1946 he was appointed the first director-general of UNESCO, a post he held for two years. As an administrator, he also did much to transform the Zoological Society's collections at Regent's Park (London Zoo). Viewing man as “the sole agent of further evolutionary advance on this planet,” he caused considerable controversy by advocating the deliberate physical and mental improvement of the human race through eugenics. Huxley's biological research was also extensive, carrying out work on animal hormones, physiology, ecology, and animal (especially bird) behavior as it relates to evolution. He was president of the Institute of Animal Behaviour and the originator of the term ‘ethology’, now in general use to define the science of animal behavior. He also introduced several other scientific terms, such as cline and clade.

Huxley's publications are extensive and include Evolution: the Modern Synthesis (1942, 1963). He was knighted in 1958.