| Administrative history | Sir Charles Wyville Thomson FRS, was born on 5 March 1830 at Bonsyde. A naturalist, Thomson was educated at Merchiston Castle School and later the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine. However, Thomson was more interested in biology and geology and in 1850 he became a lecturer of Botany at King's College, Aberdeen, and later a professor of natural history at Queen's College, Cork, and professor of botany at the Royal College of Science, Dubin.
Thomson was married Jane Ramage Dawson in 1853 and was elected FRS in 1869.
Thomson was interested in the organisms of the deep sea and with help from the RS and the Admiralty, he received support to mount deep sea expeditions. In 1868 and 1869, Thomson explored the depths of the sea with the HSM Lightning and HMS Porcupine. He published his work in 1873, in The depths of the sea. He later mounted a larger expedition on the HMS Challenger from 1872-1876. The findings of this expedition were published in several volumes of the Challenger's Reports.
Thomson died on 10 March 1882.
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