Huxley, T(homas) H(enry) (1825–1895)

English biologist and essayist, Thomas Huxley. A leading advocate of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, Huxley combined his philosophical ideas with scientific exposition. He wrote essays from an ‘agnostic’ viewpoint (a term he introduced) and held that scientific discoveries had neither given support to, nor discredited, religious faith.

English scientist and humanist. Following the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859), he became known as ‘Darwin's bulldog’, and for many years was a prominent champion of evolution. In 1869 he coined the word ‘agnostic’ to express his own religious attitude, and is considered the founder of scientific humanism.

From 1846 to 1850 Huxley was the assistant ship's surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake on its voyage around the South Seas. The observations he made on the voyage, especially of invertebrates, were published and made his name in the UK.

Huxley was born in London and studied medicine there at Charing Cross Hospital. In 1854 he became professor of natural history at the Royal School of Mines. His grandsons include Aldous, Andrew, and Julian Huxley.

Huxley found the system of classification introduced by the French anatomist Georges Cuvier to be inadequate for the sea creatures he studied on his voyage. He reclassified the animal kingdom into Annuloida, Annulosa, Infusoria, Coelenterata, Mollusca, Molluscoida, Protozoa, and Vertebrata, and started a fundamental revision of the Mollusca. He also produced a new system of classification of birds, based mainly on the palate and other bony structures, which is the foundation of the modern system.

His scientific works include Man's Place in Nature (1863); later books, such as Lay Sermons (1870), Science and Culture (1881), and Evolution and Ethics (1893), were expositions of scientific humanism.