Sir Eric James Denton (30 September 1923 – 2 January 2007) was a British marine biologist who won the Royal Society's

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

in 1987. Denton was born in

Bentley, South Yorkshire Bentley is a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England two miles north of the city of Doncaster. The population of the ward (also including Arksey, Shaftholme, Toll Bar and part of Scawthorpe) within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncas ...

. He was educated at

Doncaster Grammar School Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he graduated with an Ordinary degree in Physics, before pursuing biophysics research at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He was subsequently a lecturer in Physiology at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

, and then a physiologist at the

Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel H ...

Laboratory in Plymouth. From 1974 to 1987 he was the Director of the Marine Biological Association Laboratory. Denton died in St Just, Cornwall on 2 January 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denton, Eric James Royal Medal winners British marine biologists 1923 births 2007 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor People from Doncaster 20th-century British zoologists