George Matthai (13 November 1887 – 22 June 1947) was an Indian zoologist who specialized in marine biology, contributing to the systematics of
Madreporarian (now
Scleractinia
Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylum Cnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a ...
) corals. He was a professor of zoology at the
Panjab University in Lahore.
Life and career
He returned to India in 1918 and worked at the department of zoology at the Panjab University, Lahore. He received a ScD from the University of Cambridge in 1929. He succeeded Lt. Col.
J. Stephenson in 1919 and his retirement in 1942 was postponed to 1945 due to the war.
Matthai married Mary Chandy, daughter of C. Chandy of the Mysore Civil Service and later vice chancellor of Mysore University, in 1925. They had a son, Ariel, and after her death in 1931, Matthai married Rosalinda Hedwig in 1935. Matthai was elected Fellow of the
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 1921, as well as the Linnean Society.
References
External links
Biography of INSA fellows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthai, George
University of the Punjab faculty
People from Kozhikode
1887 births
1947 deaths
Indian marine biologists
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Madras Christian College alumni
20th-century Indian zoologists