Adrian John Desmond (born 1947) is an English writer on the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

and author of books about

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

Life

He studied physiology at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

and went on to study history of science and vertebrate palaeontology at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

before researching the history of vertebrate palaeontology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He was awarded a PhD in the area of the Victorian-period context of Darwinian evolution. Desmond is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Biology Department at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Books

*''The Hot-blooded Dinosaurs: a revolution in palaeontology'' (1975) *''The Ape's Reflexion'' (1979) *''Archetypes and Ancestors'' (1982) *''The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, medicine and reform in radical London'' (1989). This work won the

Pfizer Award The Pfizer Award is awarded annually by the History of Science Society "in recognition of an outstanding book dealing with the history of science" Recipients * 1959 Marie Boas Hall, ''Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-Century Chemistry'' (New Yor ...

. *'' Darwin'' (1991) with James Moore. This work won the

James Tait Black Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

, the Comisso Prize for biography in Italy, the Watson Davis Prize of the US History of Science Society and the Dingle Prize of the British Society for the History of Science. *''Huxley: From Devil's Disciple to Evolution's High Priest'' (1999) *''Charles Darwin (Very Interesting People)'' with

Janet Browne Elizabeth Janet Browne (née Bell, born 30 March 1950) is a British historian of science, known especially for her work on the history of 19th-century biology. She taught at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University Col ...

& James Moore (2007) *''Darwin's Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery, and the Quest for Human Origins'' with James Moore (2009)

Notes

1947 births Living people James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London Charles Darwin biographers Historians of biology {{England-scientist-stub