Huxley, Sir Julian Sorell (1887-1975), was a noted British biologist. He did research in ornithology (the study of birds) and on the experimental analysis of development. He made a study of the relative rates of growth of bodily organs and developed a mathematical method to analyze body proportions. His book Evolution, the Modern Synthesis (1942) unites theories of evolution with modern theories of genetic inheritance.
Huxley helped establish the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He was elected the agency’s first director-general in 1946. In 1958, he was knighted for his contributions to science.
Huxley’s writings include Essays of a Biologist (1923), The Science of Life (with H. G. Wells and G. P. Wells, 1929-1930), Problems of Relative Growth (1932), Elements of Experimental Embryology (with G. R. de Beer, 1934), Man Stands Alone (1941), Man in the Modern World (1947), and Essays of a Humanist (with H. B. Kettlewell, 1964). He also wrote several poems.
Huxley was born on June 22, 1887, in London. He taught at Rice Institute in Texas from 1912 to 1916. He later became a professor at King’s College, London. He died on Feb. 14, 1975. Huxley was a grandson of British scientist Thomas Henry Huxley.
