Prof John William Heslop Harrison, FRS

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 ...

(1881–1967), was Professor of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at King's College,

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

(now

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

). He enjoyed a brilliant career, specialising in the genetics of moths, but is now best remembered for an alleged

academic fraud An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

.Michael A. Salmon, Peter Marren, Basil Harley. (2000). ''The Aurelian Legacy: British Butterflies and Their Collectors''. University of California Press. pp. 216–217.

Early life and education

He was born in Birtley on 22 January 1881, the son of George Heslop-Harrison, a pattern-maker at Birtley Iron Works. He was educated at

Bede College Bede Sixth Form College is a further education sixth-form college, based in Billingham, County Durham, England. The college provides A-Level, vocational courses, apprenticeship training, and higher education courses. It is a TASS accredited coll ...

School in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

then Rutherford School for Boys in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. His mother was a keen gardener, and other influences such as his uncle, Rev J E Hull, and neighbour, Charles Robson, led him to an early interest in botany and natural history. He then studied at Durham College of Science, graduating BSc in 1903. He did further postgraduate study at the University of Newcastle gaining an MSc in 1916 and doctorate (DSc) in 1917. In 1921 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

James Hartley Ashworth James Hartley Ashworth FRS FRSE DSc SZS (2 May 1874 – 4 February 1936) was a British marine zoologist. Life See He was born on 2, May 1874, in Accrington in Lancashire, the only son of James Ashworth. He spent most of his early life in Bu ...

, Sir

Thomas Hudson Beare Sir Thomas Hudson Beare FRSE RSSA (30 June 1859 – 10 June 1940) was an eminent British engineer. He was successively Professor of Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, at University College, London (where he was a colleague of K ...

Percy Hall Grimshaw Percy Hall Grimshaw FRSE FERS ISO (1869 in Leeds – 1939 in Edinburgh) was an English entomologist and zoogeographer. He was an expert on butterflies ( Lepidoptera). He is also known for his work on Diptera. Life He was born in Leeds the so ...

, and

James Ritchie James Ritchie may refer to: * James Ritchie (rugby union) (1907–1942), Scottish international rugby union player * James Ritchie (naturalist) (1882–1958), President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh * James Ritchie (Massachusetts politician) (1 ...

. He served as the Society's Vice-President 1945–1948. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1928. He died in

Birtley, Tyne and Wear Birtley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is situated to the south of Gateshead and is physically linked to Chester-le-Street across the county boundary. Until 1974, Birtley and the adjoining are ...

on 23 January 1967.

Career

From 1903 to 1905 he was a schoolmaster in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

and then until 1917 in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. In 1917 he began lecturing in Genetics and Botany at the University of Newcastle being given a professorship in 1927. He remained in this role until retiring in 1946.

Rùm

In 1948 he was accused by

John Raven John Earle Raven (13 December 1914 – 5 March 1980) was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on presocratic philosophy, and amateur botanist. Early life and education John Raven was born on 13 December 1914 in Cambridge, the son ...

, a

University of Cambridge , 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 ...

classics tutor, of making false claims to have discovered certain plant species on the island of

Rùm Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum (), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland. For much of the 20th century the name became Rhum, a spelling invented by the former owner, Sir ...

on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Whether or not such grasses were on Rùm is pivotal to a theory that the islands escaped the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. The fraud claim is described – and its veracity supported – in

Karl Sabbagh Karl Sabbagh is a British writer, journalist, television producer, and convicted sex offender. His work is mainly non-fiction: he has written books about historical events and produced documentaries for both British and American broadcasters. ...

's 1999 book, ''A Rum Affair''.Sabbagh, Karl. (1999). ''A Rum Affair''. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. In 2008 further proof about the forgeries committed by Heslop-Harrison emerged.

Lamarckian experiments

Heslop Harrison was described as a loner who avoided as much contact as possible with other professionals and conducted most of his experiments at his home in

. He was a supporter of

Lamarckian Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

evolution from his experiments with

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s and

sawflies Sawflies are the insects of the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay ...

. According to researcher Michael A. Salmon "Heslop Harrison claimed to have experimental proof that physical changes in the life of an individual moth or sawfly could be passed on to its progeny, according to the theory of Lamarck... For example, Heslop Harrison thought that melanism resulted from the effect of pollution on individual moths which somehow altered their genes. When others attempted to repeat his experiment, however, they always seemed to come up with different results." In the 1920s, Heslop Harrison conducted experiments on the

peppered moth The peppered moth (''Biston betularia'') is a temperate species of night-flying moth. It is mostly found in the northern hemisphere in places like Asia, Europe and North America. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics an ...

, claiming to have evidence for the

inheritance of acquired characteristics Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

. Other scientists failed to replicate his results. His experiments were criticised by

J. B. S. Haldane John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (; 5 November 18921 December 1964), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biolog ...

Family

In 1906 he married Christian Watson Henderson. Their eldest son was George Heslop-Harrison

who also came to fame as an entomologist. Heslop Harrison's fourth son was

Jack Heslop-Harrison John Heslop-Harrison FRS FAAAS (10 February 1920 – 8 May 1998) was a British soldier and botanist. Early life and education He was born in Middlesbrough to John William Heslop-Harrison and his wife Christian Henderson, the last of three ...

who became director of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

in 1970. His daughter Helena married the botanist William Andrew Clark."Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002"

Botanical Reference

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heslop Harrison, John William 1881 births 1967 deaths Academics of Durham University British botanists Fellows of the Royal Society Hoaxes in science Lamarckism People from Birtley, Tyne and Wear