| Authorised form of name | Thompson; Sir; D'Arcy Wentworth (1860 - 1948); naturalist; mathematician |
| Dates | 1860 - 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 3 Brandon Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 02 May 1860 |
| Place of death | St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 21 June 1948 |
| Occupation | Naturalist and mathematician |
| Research field | Biology |
| Natural history |
| Mathematics |
| Oceanography |
| Activity | Education:
Edinburgh Academy 1870–77; Edinburgh University; MA (Camb) 1883
Career:
Demonstrator in physiology (1883-1884); professor of biology (later altered to natural history) in the recently founded University College in Dundee (1884-1916); went on expeditions to the Bering Straits, representing the British Government in an international inquiry into the fur seal industry to assess the fur seal's declining numbers (1896-1897); appointed to the Chair of Natural History at St Andrews University (1917-1948).
Memberships:
FRSE
Medals/Awards:
Linnean Medal 1938
Honours:
CB |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 11/05/1916 |
| Age at election | 56 |
| Proposer | Thomas Clifford Allbutt |
| William Abbott Herdman |
| Henry Woodward |
| Robert Stawell Ball |
| Adam Sedgwick |
| Walter Heape |
| Edwin Ray Lankester |
| Arthur Everett Shipley |
| Walsingham |
| Gilbert Charles Bourne |
| Sidney Frederic Harmer |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
VP 1931-1933
Medals and prizes:
Darwin Medal 1946 |
| Relationships | Parents: D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1829–1902), and Fanny Gamgee (1838–1860), daughter of Joseph Gamgee, veterinary surgeon.
Spouse: (m. 1901) Ada Maureen (d. 1949), daughter of William B. Drury, solicitor of Dublin.
Children: Three daughters. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN R65928
RCN 21877
RCN 21639
RCN 11046
RCN 21638 |
| OtherInfo | Pioneer of mathematical and theoretical biology.
His work led the way for the scientific explanation of morphogenesis, the process by which patterns and body structures are formed in plants and animals. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1948-1949 vol 6 pp 599-617, plate, by Clifford Dobell |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/95300577 |
| Code | NA6267 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| MDA/A/22/4 | Letter from D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson to Henry Dale, St Andrews | 4 October 1932 |
| NLB/13/790 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, University College, Dundee | 26 November 1896 |
| MDA/A/22/5 | Copy letter from [Ronald Winckworth, Assistant Secretary of Royal Society] to D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 12 October 1932 |
| MC/31/206 | Letter from D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, University College, Dundee, to The Secretaries, The Royal Society | 29 May 1916 |
| NLB/53/277 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy Thompson, FRS | 26 June 1916 |
| NLB/62/537 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 2 March 1922 |
| RR/60/7 | Referee's report by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson, on a paper 'The life history of some marine plankton diatoms' by F Gross | 21 January 1937 |
| RR/60/8 | Second referee's report by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson, on a paper 'The life history of some marine plankton diatoms' by F Gross | 7 February 1937 |
| NLB/63/177 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 10 July 1922 |
| RR/69/64 | Second referee's report by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson, on a paper 'The role of the body fluid in relation to movement in soft-bodied invertebrates I. The burrowing of Arenicola' by G Chapman and G E Newell | 3 February 1947 |
| RR/68/395 | Referee's report by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, on a paper 'The shape of the human being as a function of time' by Peter Brian Medawar | 28 June 1943 |
| RR/69/63 | Referee's report by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson, on a paper 'The role of the body fluid in relation to movement in soft-bodied invertebrates I. The burrowing of Arenicola' by G Chapman and G E Newell | 22 October 1946 |
| NLB/65/723 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr [Geoffrey Thomas] Bennett, FRS | 13 December 1923 |
| RR/W/1/4 | Postcard from [Cecil Clifford] Dobell to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 22 May 1932 |
| NLB/68/71 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, CB, FRS | 8 May 1925 |
| NLB/65/626 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 30 November 1923 |
| NLB/67/514 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 12 January 1925 |
| NLB/67/666 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 11 February 1925 |
| NLB/68/121 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, CB, FRS | 15 May 1925 |
| NLB/67/42 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Godfrey Harold] Hardy, FRS | 8 October 1924 |
| NLB/68/299 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 15 June 1925 |
| NLB/68/468 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to M. le Secretaire Perpetuel; Academie des Sciences, Leningrad | 14 July 1925 |
| NLB/68/520 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Henry Miers, FRS | 27 July 1925 |
| NLB/68/725 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, FRS | 22 October 1925 |
| RR/W/1/5 | Postcard from [Ronald Aylmer] Fisher to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 21 May 1932 |
| EC/1916/20 | Thompson, Sir D'Arcy Wentworth: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MDA/C/1/2 | Correspondence relating to the Arundel Library Fund | 1925 |
| RR/29/33 | Referee's report by Godfrey Harold Hardy, on a paper 'On the thirteen semi-regular solids of Archimedes, and on their development by the transformation of certain plane configurations' by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson | October 1924 |
| RR/29/32 | Referee's report by Geoffrey Thomas Bennett, on a paper 'On the thirteen semi-regular solids of Archimedes, and on their development by the transformation of certain plane configurations' by D'arcy Wentworth Thompson | 19 April 1924 |
| MC/15/3 | Letter from Professor D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, University College, Dundee, to Dr Michael Foster | 16 January 1889 |
| RR/47/126 | Referee's report by Cecil Clifford Dobell, on a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 25 February 1932 |
| RR/47/127 | Referee's report by William Henry Bragg, on a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | May 1932 |
| RR/47/125 | Referee's report by Charles Herbert Lees, on a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | March 1932 |
| RR/W/1/9 | Letter from [David] Keilin to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 28 May 1932 |
| RR/W/1/8 | Letter from [William Thomas] Calman to [Henry Hallett] Dale, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 23 May 1932 |
| MC/15 | Volume 15 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1889-1892 |
| MC/30/84 | Letter from [Sidney Frederic] Harmer, 1A Thornton Hill, Wimbledon, S.W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, The Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W | 23 November 1915 |
| MC/30/88 | Letter from [William Abbott] Herdman, The University of Liverpool, to [Arthur] Schuster, [Royal Society] | 11 December 1915 |
| MC/31/207 | Letter from D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, University College, Dundee, to The Secretaries, The Royal Society | 28 June 1916 |
| RR/W/1/7 | Postcard from Sir Guy Marshall to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 23 May 1932 |
| RR/W/1/3 | Postcard from [John] Graham Kerr to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 21 May 1932 |
| RR/W/1/6 | Postcard from [James] Gray to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 22 May 1932 |
| RR/W/1/13 | Letter from [William Thomas] Calman to [Ronald] Winckworth, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 7 June 1932 |
| RR/W/1/14 | Postcard from [Henry] Balfour to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 16 June 1932 |
| RR/W/1/10 | Letter from [James] Gray to [William Thomas] Calman, Chairman of the Zoology Committee, regarding a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | 1 June 1932 |
| RR/W/1/12 | Summary of referees' comments on a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | [June 1932] |
| RR/W/1/11 | Comments [by Geoffrey Thomas Bennett] on a paper 'The geometry of the siliceous skeletons of the radiolaria' by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson | [May 1932] |
| ACS/1/2/3/681 | Letter from [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton, to [Professor] D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, C. B., F. R. S., 44 South Street, St. Andrews | 24 November 1928 |
| ACS/1/2/3/705 | Letter from [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton, to Randall [Davidson] | 4 December 1928 |
| ACS/1/2/3/706 | Letter from [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton, to [Professor] D'Arcy [Wentworth] Thompson, C. B., F. R. S. | 4 December 1928 |