Gray, James (1891–1975)

English zoologist. His A Textbook of Experimental Cytology (1931) helped to establish cytology (cell structure) as a distinct branch of zoology.

Born in Wood Green, London, Gray attended Merchant Taylor's School and King's College, Cambridge. He graduated in natural sciences 1913 and then spent a year in Naples before returning to King's to take up a fellowship. He then joined the Queen's Royal West Surrey regiment and served in France and Palestine in World War I, during which time he was awarded the Military Cross and the croix de guerre avec palme for bravery.

He resumed his position at King's College 1919 and was appointed a lecturer 1929. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society 1931. In the early 1930s Gray began to concentrate on animal location, realizing the techniques needed to study the cell were yet to be developed. In 1937 he was made professor of zoology, having been very involved in the fund raising for the new zoology department at Cambridge, which was finally completed 1934. From 1943 to 1947 he was the Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institute. He was awarded a CBE 1946 and knighted 1954.