James Johnstone (born 17 January 1870 in

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

– died 1932 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

) was a Scottish

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

. His studies focused on the food chain in marine ecosystems.

Biography

Johnstone began his working life as an apprentice woodcarver in

Lochwinnoch Lochwinnoch (; sco, Lochineuch, gd, Loch Uinneach) is a village in the council area and historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying on the banks of Castle Semple Loch and the River Calder, Lochwinnoch is ...

, but rose to become professor at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

heading the chair of oceanography which had been created in 1919 by professor

William Abbott Herdman Sir William Abbott Herdman FRS FRSE FLS (5 September 1858, Edinburgh – 21 July 1924) was a Scottish marine zoologist and oceanographer. His zoological author abbreviation is Herdman. Life He was born in Edinburgh the son of the artist ...

and his wife. James Johnstone a had this responsibility from 1920 to 1932 James Johnstone was a founding member of the

Society for Experimental Biology The Society for Experimental Biology is a learned society for animal, cell and plant biologists. It was founded in 1923 at Birkbeck College to "promote the art and science of experimental biology in all its branches". It aims to demonstrate the i ...

(SEB). He was also active in creating the '' British Journal of Experimental Biology'' (BJEB) being on the journal's editorial board. În 1929, the publication changed its name to ''Journal of Experimental Biology'' To honor his memory, a

flatworm The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegment ...

''Rhipidocotyle johnstonei'' was named after James Johnstone.''Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. I & J''
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Bibliography

* James Johnstone – ''British fisheries : their administration and their problems ; a short account of the origin and growth of British seafishery'' - London : Williams & Norgate, 1905. - XXXI, 350, 62 S. * James Johnstone - ''Conditions of Life in the Sea. a short account of quantitative marine biological research'' – Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1908. . * James Johnstone - ''Life in the sea'' - Cambridge, The University Press, 1911 * Johnstone, James, ''The philosophy of biology'' Cambridge, University Press, 1914. * James Johnstone – ''The Mechanism Of Life In Relation To Modern Physical Theory'' - 1921 * Johnstone, James – ''An introduction to oceanography, with special reference to geography and geophysics'' - Liverpool, The University press of Liverpool; London, Hodder and Stoughton 1923. In this book, he first used the term

trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from eros ...

in its modern sense for any marked, elongate depression of the sea bottom. * James Johnstone – ''A Study of the Oceans'' – London, Edward Arnold & Co, 1930

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstone, James Biological oceanography 1870 births 1932 deaths People from Beith Scottish marine biologists Academics of the University of Liverpool Scottish oceanographers