James Duncan Robertson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FIB FZS (16 January 1912 – 22 December 1993) was a 20th century Scottish zoologist.

Life

He was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 16 January 1912 the eldest of four children of James Robertson, a local headmaster of Shetland descent, and his wife Phemie Helen Hunter Muir, a schoolteacher. He was educated at

Rutherglen Academy Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...

and was school

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux' ...

in 1929. He studied Zoology at Glasgow University under Prof

John Graham Kerr Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957), known to his friends as Graham Kerr, was a British embryologist and Unionist Member of Parliament (MP). He is best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. He was involv ...

graduating BSc in 1933. He was a Robert Donaldson Scholar 1933 to 1935 during which period he befriended

Alexander Haddow Sir Alexander Haddow Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (18 January 1907 – 21 January 1976) was a Scottish physician and pathologist at the forefront of cancer research in the 1940s. He served as Director of the Institute of Cancer Research fr ...

, Douglas Bertram and Russell Lumsden. He then went to

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

with a

Carnegie Scholar The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

ship for postgraduate studies gaining a doctorate (PhD) in 1936. In 1938 he returned to Glasgow as assistant to Prof

Edward Hindle Edward Hindle FRS FRSE FIB FRGS FRPSG (21 March 1886–22 January 1973) was a British biologist and entomologist who was Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow from 1935 to 1943. He specialised in the study of parasites. ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he saw active service in the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

, serving as a Captain in West Africa,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Returning to Glasgow University in 1946 he began lecturing in zoology. After several promotions he became Professor in 1964. In 1952 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Sir

Maurice Yonge Sir Charles Maurice Yonge, CBE, FRS FRSE (9 December 1899 – 17 March 1986) was an English marine zoologist. Life Charles Maurice Yonge was born in Silcoates School near Wakefield in Yorkshire in 1899 the son of John Arthur Yonge (1865-1946 ...

Otto Lowenstein Otto Lowenstein (7 May 1889 – 25 March 1965) was a German-American neuropsychiatrist who was a native of Osnabrück. He grew up in Preußisch Oldendorf, the son of Julius Lowenstein, a merchant, and Henriette Grunewald, into a Jewish family, ...

, Ebenezer Ford, Sheina Marshall and

Andrew Picken Orr Andrew Picken Orr FRSE ARIC (1898–1962) was a 20th-century Scottish oceanographer and was an expert on phytoplankton and copepod biology. Life He was born in Ayrshire on 6 August 1898. He was educated at Kilmarnock Academy. In the First World ...

. He served as Vice President of the Society from 1967 to 1969. He retired in 1982 and died whilst Christmas shopping in Glasgow on 22 December 1993 aged 81.

Family

In 1947 he married Isobel Mary (Elma) Lamont Leitch (d.1986). They had two daughters, Ailsa and Norna Robertson.

References

1912 births 1993 deaths Scientists from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century British zoologists British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Medical Corps officers {{UK-zoologist-stub