Gavin de Beer
| Gavin de Beer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gavin Rylands de Beer 1 November 1899 Malden, Surrey |
| Died | 21 June 1972 (aged 72) Alfriston, Sussex |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | embryologist |
| Institutions | British Museum (Natural History) |
| Known for | evolution |
| Notable awards |
Linnean Medal (1958) Kalinga Prize (1968) Darwin Medal Fellow of the Royal Society |
Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer FRS (1 November 1899 – 21 June 1972) was a British evolutionary embryologist. He was director of the Natural History Museum, London, president of the Linnean Society of London, and received the Royal Society's Darwin Medal for his studies on evolution.
Born on 1 November 1899 in Malden, Surrey (now part of London), de Beer spent most of his childhood in France, where he was educated at the Parisian École Pascal. During this time, he also visited Switzerland, a country with which he remained fascinated for the rest of his life. His education continued at Harrow and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in zoology in 1921, after a pause to serve in the First World War in the Grenadier Guards and the Army Education Corps. He soon became a fellow of Merton College, Oxford and began to teach at the university's zoology department. In 1938, he was made reader in embryology at University College, London. During the Second World War De Beer again served with the Grenadier Guards reaching the rank of temporary lieutenant colonel. He worked in intelligence, propaganda and psychological warfare. Also during the war, in 1940, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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