George Romanes
| George Romanes | |
|---|---|
George Romanes, by Elliott & Fry.
|
|
| Born |
20 May 1848 Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | 23 May 1894 (aged 46) Oxford, Oxfordshire, England |
| Citizenship | British |
| Fields |
evolutionary biology physiology |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
| Known for | comparative psychology |
| Influences | Charles Darwin |
Signature
 |
|
George John Romanes FRS (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-English evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms between humans and other animals.
He was the youngest of Charles Darwin's academic friends, and his views on evolution are historically important. He invented the term neo-Darwinism, which is still often used today to indicate an updated form of Darwinism. Romanes' early death was a loss to the cause of evolutionary biology in Britain. Within six years Mendel's work was rediscovered, and a whole new agenda opened up for debate.
George Romanes was born in Kingston, Ontario, in 1848, the youngest of three children, all boys, in a well-to-do and intellectually cultivated family. His father was Rev George Romanes (1805-1871), a Scottish Presbyterian minister. Two years after his birth, his parents moved to Cornwall Terrace in United Kingdom, which would set Romanes on the path to a fruitful and lasting relationship with Charles Darwin. During his youth, Romanes resided temporarily in Germany and Italy, developing a fluency in both German and Italian. His early education was inconsistent, undertaken partly in public schools, and partly at home. He developed an early love for poetry and music, at which he excelled. However, his true passion resided elsewhere, and the young Romanes decided to study science, abandoning a prior ambition to become a clergyman like his father.
...
Wikipedia