Edward Alfred Minchin Explained

Edward Alfred Minchin
Birth Date:26 February 1866
Birth Place:Weston-super-Mare
Death Place:Selsey
Nationality:British
Alma Mater:Keble College, Oxford
Known For:PoriferaTrypanosomes
Spouse:Florence Maude Fontain (m. 1903)

Edward Alfred Minchin (26 February 1866 – 30 September 1915) was a British zoologist who specialised in the study of sponges and Protozoa. He became Jodrell Chair of Zoology at University College London in 1899, Chair of Protozoology at the University of London in 1906, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1911.[1]

Early life and education

Edward Alfred Minchin was born in Weston-super-Mare on 26 February 1866[2] to Charles N. Minchin and Mary J. Lugard.[3] He was educated at the United Services College, Westward Ho!, and the Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore, India.[4] Minchin graduated from Keble College, Oxford in 1890 with first class honours in zoology, and three years later was elected Fellow of Merton College.[5]

Career

After graduating Minchin was awarded first the University Scholarship, and then the Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship which enabled him to travel through Europe. He worked at several different institutions including the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer and Station biologique de Roscoff in France, and in the laboratories of Otto Bütschli and Richard Hertwig in Germany. On his return to Oxford he worked as demonstrator in comparative anatomy for Ray Lankester from 1890 to 1899. He was also appointed lecturer of biology at Guy's Hospital from 1898 to 1899.

In 1899 he succeeded Raphael Weldon as Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, and curator of what is now the Grant Museum of Zoology at University College London (UCL). While Professor of Zoology at UCL Minchin worked on sponges, especially the development of spicules in calcareous sponges.[6] He was the first to conclusively prove that sponges are not part of the Coelenterata.

Lankester had long lobbied for a permanent Chair of Protozoology at the University of London and in 1906 the position was finally created, associated with the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine.[7] Minchin was appointed to the job which he continued to hold until his death in 1915. He was succeeded as the Jodrell Chair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy by James Peter Hill. While working at the Lister Institute Minchin's research focus moved to parasitic protozoa, especially trypanosomes. In 1905 he visited Uganda to study sleeping sickness, and went on to study trypanosomes in humans and other animals including rats and birds.[8] [9]

During his career he published around 40 papers, his first was on the stink glands of cockroaches, and was published in 1888 while he was still an undergraduate.[10] fMinchin wrote seven articles for the 1911 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica[11] including the entry for Protozoa. In 1912 he published a general textbook entitled An Introduction to the Study of Protozoa.[12] Minchin also contributed chapters to Lankester's Treatise on Zoology, for Volume I Introduction and Protozoa, and Volume II Porifera and Coelenterata published between 1900 and 1909.[13]

Minchin was encouraged to stand for election to the Royal Society by E Ray Lankester, who championed his work on tsetse flies to support the application. As well as becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, Minchin was involved with several other learned societies, he was President of the Quekett Microscopical Club from 1908 to 1912,[14] Vice-President of the Zoological Society of London and Zoological Secretary of the Linnean Society. He won the Linnean Society's Trail Award in 1910.

Death and legacy

Minchin had always suffered from ill health. He died from tubercular pleurisy on 30 September 1915, aged 49. In his obituaries Minchin was praised for the quality of his work, the depth of his knowledge, and was described as the first great British protozoologist.

Published works

External links

Notes and References

  1. Ashworth. J H. Edward Alfred Minchin, M.A., F.R.S.. Journal of Pathology. XX. 360–365.
  2. 1913–1915. Edward Alfred Minchin M.A., F.R.S.. Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club. XII. 669–671.
  3. 7 October 1915. Prof. E. A. Minchin F.R.S.. Nature. 96. 2397. 148–150. 10.1038/096148a0. 1915Natur..96..148.. free.
  4. Woodcock. H. M.. 1925. Edward Alfred Minchin 1866–1915. Parasitology. 17. 2. 157–162. 10.1017/S0031182000004480. 86433625 . 1469-8161.
  5. Book: Levens. R.G.C.. Merton College Register 1900–1964. 1964. Basil Blackwell. Oxford. 2.
  6. MINCHIN. E. A.. 1898-01-01. Memoirs: Materials for a Monograph of the Ascons.--I. On the Origin and Growth of the Triradiate and Quadriradiate Spicules in the Family Clathrinidæ. Journal of Cell Science. s2-40. 160. 0021-9533.
  7. Book: Joseph, Lester. E. Ray Lankester and the making of modern British biology. 1995. British Society for the History of Science. Bowler, Peter J., British Society for the History of Science.. 0906450-11-X. [Great Britain]. 33043147.
  8. MINCHIN. E. A.. THOMSON. J. D.. 1915-01-01. Memoirs: The Rat-Trypanosome, Trypanosoma Lewisi, in its Relation to the Rat-Flea, Ceratophyllus Fasciatus. Journal of Cell Science. s2-60. 240. 463–681 . 10.1242/jcs.s2-60.240.463 . 0021-9533. free.
  9. MINCHIN. E. A.. WOODCOCK. H. M.. 1911-11-01. Memoirs: Observations on the Trypanosome of the Little Owl (Athene Noctua), with Remark on the other Protozoan Blood-Parasites Occurring in this Bird. Journal of Cell Science. s2-57. 226. 141–185 . 10.1242/jcs.s2-57.226.141 . 0021-9533.
  10. MINCHIN. EDWARD A.. 1888-12-01. Memoirs: Note on a New Organ, and on the Structure of the Hypodermis, in Periplaneta orientalis. Journal of Cell Science. s2-29. 115. 0021-9533.
  11. Author:Edward Alfred Minchin.
  12. Book: Minchin, Edward Alfred. An introduction to the study of the Protozoa, with special reference to the parasitic forms. 1912. London, E. Arnold. MBLWHOI Library.
  13. Book: Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray). A treatise on zoology. 1900–1909. London, A. and C. Black. University of California Libraries.
  14. Book: Bracegirdle, Brian. The Quekett Microscopical Club 1865-2015. Quekett Microscopical Club. 2016. 978-0-9564591-2-1. 55.

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