G. Evelyn Hutchinson

G. Evelyn Hutchinson
Hutchinson at Yale in 1935
Born	(1903-01-30)January 30, 1903 Cambridge, England
Died	May 17, 1991(1991-05-17) (aged 88) London, England
Residence	United States
Nationality	English, American (naturalized 1941)
Fields	Limnology, ecology
Institutions	Yale University
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Known for	Founder of American limnology; creating the concept of multi-dimensional ecological niche
Notable awards	Leidy Award (1952) Tyler Prize (1974) Franklin Medal (1979) Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1984) Kyoto Prize (1986) National Medal of Science (1991) Fellow of the Royal Society
Spouses	Grace Pickford (m.1928) Margaret Seal (m. 1933) Anne Twitty

George Evelyn Hutchinson ForMemRS (January 30, 1903 – May 17, 1991), was an American ecologist sometimes described as the "father of modern ecology." He contributed for more than sixty years to the fields of limnology, systems ecology, radiation ecology, entomology, genetics, biogeochemistry, a mathematical theory of population growth, art history, philosophy, religion, and anthropology. He worked on the passage of phosphorus through lakes, the chemistry and biology of lakes, the theory of interspecific competition, and on insect taxonomy and genetics, zoo-geography and African water bugs. He is known as one of the first to combine ecology with mathematics. He became an international expert on lakes and wrote the four-volume Treatise on Limnology in 1957.

Hutchinson earned his degree in Zoology from Cambridge University but chose not to earn a doctorate, of which he came to be proud as he aged. Although born in England, he spent nearly his entire professional life at Yale University, where he was Sterling Professor of Zoology and focused on working with graduate students.

Hutchinson was born in 1903 to Arthur and Evaline D. Hutchinson. He grew up in Cambridge, England. His father, Arthur, was a mineralogist at Cambridge. Hutchinson grew up surrounded by intellectuals, including two of Darwin’s sons. By the age of five, Hutchinson was already collecting aquatic creatures and studying their preferred living environment in aquariums that he manufactured himself. He had a younger brother and a younger sister. He had his early education at Saint Faith's. He went on in 1917 to study at Gresham's School in Norfolk. Gresham's was unique in not focusing on the classics, but including more intensive studies of mathematics and science, along with modern languages and history. It was here that he began to notice that organisms had different chemical environments. Hutchinson read zoology at Cambridge University from 1921 until 1925.