Edwin Tulley Newton (4 May 1840 – 28 January 1930) was a British
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
.
![New form of Agelacrinites](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/New_form_of_Agelacrinites.png)
Newton originally worked at
handicraft
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
s, but was able to attend
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The storie ...
's lectures and by 1865, was appointed as his assistant. In 1882, he became paleontologist to the "Geologic Survey", a position he retained until 1905. His early work included microscopic sectioning of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
and notable studies on
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are well-known as ...
brains.
Later he did work on
chimaeroid fish
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s. In 1893, Newton won the
Lyell Medal
The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal. This medal is awarded based on one Earth Scientist's exceptional contribution of research to the scientific ...
. He was president of the
Geologists' Association
The Geologists' Association, founded in 1858, is a British organisation with charitable status for those concerned with the study of geology. It publishes the ''Proceedings of the Geologists' Association''
and jointly with the Geological Society ...
in 1896–1898 and president of the
Palaeontographical Society
The Palaeontographical Society is a learned society, established in 1847, and is the oldest extant Society devoted to the advancement of palaeontological knowledge.
The Society publishes monographs that further its primary purpose, which is to pro ...
from 1921 to 1928.
Newton was elected
Fellow of the Geological Society
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
in 1873,
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park.
History
On 29 ...
in 1885, and
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1893.
References
External links
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1840 births
1930 deaths
English palaeontologists
Fellows of the Geological Society of London
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Zoological Society of London
Lyell Medal winners
Presidents of the Geologists' Association
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