Ernest James Goddard
| Ernest James Goddard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
20 February 1883 Newcastle, Australia |
| Died | 17 January 1948 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Maitland High School |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biologist |
Ernest James Goddard (20 February 1883 – 17 January 1948), was an Australian professor of biology.
Ernest James Goddard was born on 20 February 1883 in Newcastle, New South Wales, one of six sons born to Alfred and Elizabeth Goddard. He attended Maitland High School and then his family moved to Sydney for he and his brother's education at the University of Sydney where he studied first a B.A. in 1904, and then took a BSc in 1906, with honours in zoology and palaeontology.
An outstanding student, Goddard was appointed a junior demonstrator in Biology whilst in the final years of his Science degree, and also upon his graduation in 1906. Professor Edgeworth David employed him as a biologist for the Royal Society Expedition of Fiji. He then became a Macleay Linnean Research Fellow in Zoology at the University of Sydney in 1908–09, upon his return from Fiji. He received the first D.Sc. degree awarded by the University of Sydney, in 1910. Much of the content of this dissertation was published in the Journal of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. This success led to him being offered the Chair of Zoology, Geology and Mineralogy at Victoria College, (Stellenbosch University from 1918), South Africa. The Department of Geology would be later split from his role, and he would mainly oversee zoology.
Goddard continued to publish while at Victoria College, especially in the areas of his PhD research on leeches and earthworms. He undertook a zoological survey of South Africa upon commencing work there, and chose a site for the South African Marine Biological and Oceanographic Station. Many of his papers considered the Antarctic and his emerging interest in establishing an expedition there, but in the end lack of funding for the project took it no further. Relishing public speaking duties in his new role in South Africa, Goddard was interested in many social questions. Following WW1, racial tensions in South Africa increased. Despite making his zoology department the largest in South Africa, and being selected to join the Quest expedition to Antarctica as an oceanographer and marine biologist in 1922, Goddard applied for the Chair of Biology at the University of Queensland and was successful, taking up the post in 1923.
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