Margaret Bastock
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Margaret Bastock
OR:
Margaret Bastock on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Margaret Bastock Manning (22 March 1920 – 10 June 1982) was an English
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and
geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processe ...
. She carried out influential work in the 1950s, establishing links between genes and behaviour.


Life and career

Margaret Bastock was born on 22 March 1920 in
Warwick, Warwickshire Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...
, England to Andrew John Bastock and Frances Louise Cooke. When she was old enough she began a degree at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, but her studies were interrupted by the outbreak of 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 ...
, 1939. During the war she worked for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, but afterwards she returned to Oxford and completed her undergraduate studies in
zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
. Bastock then became a member of
St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...
and studied motivational drives in animal behaviour, working with
Desmond Morris Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''The Naked Ape'', and for his televisi ...
. In 1950 she began working towards her D.Phil. in
Nikolaas Tinbergen Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen (; ; 15 April 1907 – 21 December 1988) was a Dutch biologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning the or ...
's laboratory. She studied the relationship between behaviour, genetics and evolution using the fruit fly ''
Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with Ch ...
''. In 1956, she published the first evidence that a single
gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
could change behaviour. She studied a
mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...
called ''yellow'' in ''Drosophila'' and showed that this gene or a closely linked gene affected the fly's mating behaviour.


Personal life and death

After completing her D.Phil., Bastock continued working on courtship behaviour and wrote a textbook on the subject. She collaborated with another student of Tinbergen,
Aubrey Manning Aubrey William George Manning, OBE, FRSE, FRSB, (24 April 1930 – 20 October 2018)Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
with Manning in the 1960s and they had two sons. Bastock continued to work in science, studying
child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...
and aggressive behaviour. She died of cancer on 10 June 1982 in
Charminster Charminster is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated on the River Cerne and A352 road north of the county town Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,940 and also contains the hamlet of Charl ...
,
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, aged 62.


Key publications

* “Some comments on conflict and thwarting in animals”. Bastock, M. Morris, D, Moynihan, M. 1953. ''Behaviour'', 6: p. 66-74. * ''Courtship: a zoological study''. Bastock, M. 1967. London, Heinemann.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastock, Margaret 1920 births 1982 deaths 20th-century British zoologists English geneticists Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford People from Warwick Deaths from cancer in England 20th-century British women scientists