Zuckerman, Solly (1904-1993)

South African-born British zoologist, educationalist, and establishment figure. He did extensive research on primates, publishing a number of books that became classics in their field, including The Social Life of Monkeys and Apes (1932) and Functional Affinities of Man, Monkeys and Apes (1933). He was chief scientific adviser to the British government 1964-71

Born in Cape Town, where he was demonstrator in anatomy at the university, Zuckerman came to London in the 1920s and soon established himself as a leading anatomist with the Zoological Society. He joined the faculty of Oxford University in 1934 and during World War II, as a government scientific adviser, investigated the biological effects of bomb blasts. He was professor of anatomy at Birmingham University 1946-68, and was created a peer in 1971. As chief scientific adviser to the government during Harold Wilson's premiership, he had his own office within the Cabinet Office, with direct access to the prime minister himself. He published his autobiography From Apes to Warlords in 1978.