Professor Philip MacDonald Sheppard, F.R.S. (27 July 1921 – 17 October 1976) was a British geneticist and lepidopterist. He made advances in ecological and population genetics in

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

ns, pulmonate land snails and humans. In medical genetics, he worked with Sir Cyril Clarke on Rh disease. He was born on 27 July 1921 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England and attended

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

from 1935 to 1939. *1940 to 1945 - Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (prisoner-of-war from 1942 to 1945). Participated, as an earth-bearer, in one of the famous tunnel escapes; it is unclear whether this was the "Wooden Horse" escape, or the "Great" EscapeDictionary of Scientific Biography vol 17, supplement 2 pp 814–816 *1946 to 1948 - Studied Zoology at Worcester College, University of Oxford. *1956 to 1959 - Lecturer at Liverpool University *1959 to 1962 - Reader at Liverpool University *1963 to 1976 - Professor of genetics at Liverpool University *18 March 1965 - FRS *1974 - Darwin Medal of the Royal Society *1975 -

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

(Gold Medal) for Zoology from the Linnean Society of London Cyril Clarke answered an advert in an insect magazine for

swallowtail butterfly Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the large ...

pupa that had been placed by Sheppard. They met and began working together in their common interest of lepidopterology. They also worked on Rh disease. In 1961 Sheppard started a colony of scarlet tiger moths by the

Wirral Way The Wirral Country Park is a country park on the Wirral Peninsula, England, lying both in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in the county of Merseyside and in the borough of Cheshire West & Chester in the county of Cheshire. It was the first ...

, West Kirby, Merseyside, which were rediscovered in 1988 by Cyril Clarke, who continued to observe them in his retirement to study changes in the moth population. Sheppard married Patricia Beatrice Lee in 1948. They had three sons. He died of acute leukemia on 17 October 1976.

References

*Sheppard P.M. 1958. ''Natural Selection and Heredity''. London: Hutchinson. last ed 1975. *Dictionary of Scientific Biography vol 17, supplement 2 pp 814–816 by J.R.G. Turner. *Biographical Memoires of Fellows of the Royal Society 1977 vol 23 pp 465–500, plate, by Sir Cyril Clarke. *Obituary Professor Philip M. Sheppard, D Phil, FRS (1921-1976) by J.R.G. Turner. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society vol 31, no.3, pp. 205–212 (1977) ncludes list of publicationsbr>Biography and list of papers
1921 births 1976 deaths People from Marlborough, Wiltshire People educated at Marlborough College Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford British evolutionary biologists English geneticists Academics of the University of Liverpool English lepidopterists Deaths from leukemia Royal Air Force personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Linnean Medallists 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-scientist-stub