John William Heslop-Harrison: Difference between revisions

| awards = [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Peacock | first1 = A. D. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1968.0011 | title = John William Heslop Harrison 1881-1967 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 14 | pages = 243–270| year = 1968 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Prof '''John William Heslop Harrison''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society{{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|FRS]] [[|FRSE]]}} (1881–1967), was Professora professor of [[Botany]] at [[Former colleges of DurhamNewcastle University|King'sKings College]], [[Durham University]] (now [[Newcastle University-Upon-Tyne]]). He enjoyed a brilliant career, specialising in the genetics of moths,. butHe is now best remembered for ana widely allegedrecognised [[academic fraud]].<ref name="frs"/><ref name="Salmon 2000">Michael A. Salmon, Peter Marren, Basil Harley. (2000). ''The Aurelian Legacy: British Butterflies and Their Collectors''. University of California Press. pp. 216–217. {{ISBN|0-520-22963-0}}</ref>

He was born in [[Birtley, Tyne and Wear|Birtley]] on 22 January 1881, the son of George Heslop-Harrison, a pattern-maker at Birtley Iron Works. He was educated at [[Bede College]] School in [[Durham, England|Durham]] then Rutherford School for Boys in [[Newcastle- upon- Tyne]]. His mother was a keen gardener, and other influences such as his uncle, Rev J E Hull, and neighbour, Charles Robson, led him to an early interest in botany and natural history.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/14/243|title=John William Heslop Harrison. 1881–1967|first=A. D.|last=Peacock|date=1 November 1968|workjournal=rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=14|pages=243–270|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1968.0011|doi-access=free}}</ref>

He then studied at [[Durham College of Science]], graduatingwhere he obtained a [[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] degree in 1903. He did further postgraduate study at the [[Newcastle University|University of Newcastle]], gaining an [[Master of Science|MSc]] degree in 1916 and doctoratea ([[Doctor of Science|DSc)]] in 1917.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|title=BIOGRAPHICALBiographical INDEXIndex OFof FORMERFormer FELLOWSFellows OFof THEthe ROYALRoyal SOCIETYSociety OFof EDINBURGH 1783 –Edinburgh 20021783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0 -902 -198 -84 -X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1921 he was elected a [[Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] (FRSE). His proposers were [[James Hartley Ashworth]], Sir [[Thomas Hudson Beare]], [[Percy Hall Grimshaw]], and [[James Ritchie (naturalist)|James Ritchie]]. He served as the Society's Vice-President 1945–1948. He was elected a [[Fellow of the [[Royal Society of London]] (FRS) in 1928.<ref name="auto"/>

===Isle of RumRùm===

In 1948 he was accuseddetermined by [[John Raven]], a [[University of Cambridge]] classics tutor, ofto have makingmade false claims to have discovered certain plant species on the [[Isleisland of Rum[[Rùm]] on the west coast of [[Scotland]]. Whether or not such grasses were on RumRùm is pivotal to a theory that the islands escaped the last [[ice age]]. The fraud claim is described – and its veracity supported – in [[Karl Sabbagh]]'s 1999 book, ''A Rum Affair''.<ref name="rumaffair">Sabbagh, Karl. (1999). ''A Rum Affair''. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. {{ISBN|0-7139-9277-8}}</ref> In 2008 further proof about the forgeries committed by Heslop-Harrison emerged.<ref>[httphttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3120761/Botanist-John-Heslop-Harrison-faked-rare-plant-discoveries.html "Botanist John Heslop Harrison faked rare plant discoveries"]. Alastair Jamieson, The Daily Telegraph, 2 October 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4863866.ece "The botanist, the Ice Age flora and seeds of doubt"]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. Magnus Linklater, The Times, 2 October 2008.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jul/25/robinmckie.theobserver "Botanical fraudster who planted the evidence is weeded out"]. Robin McKie, ''The Guardian''. 25 July 1999.</ref>

In the 1920s, Heslop Harrison conducted experiments on the [[peppered moth]], claiming to have evidence for the [[inheritance of acquired characteristics]]. Other scientists failed to replicate his results.<ref>Giltrow, Janet. (2002). ''Academic Reading, Second Edition: Reading and Writing Across the Disciplines''. Broadview Press. p. 144. {{ISBN|1-55111-393-7}} "During the 1920s, the entomologist J. W. Heslop-Harrison published experimental data supporting his claim that chemicals in soot caused widespread mutations from light winged to the dark winged form. Because these mutations were supposedly passed on to subsequent generations, Harrison claimed that he had documented a case of inheritance of acquired traits. Other biologists failed to replicate Harrison's results, and R. A. Fisher pointed out that Harrison's hypothesis required a mutation rate far higher than any previously reported."</ref><ref>Moore, Randy; Decker, Mark D. (2008). ''More Than Darwin: An Encyclopedia of the People and Places of the Evolution-creationism Controversy''. Greenword Press. p. 203 {{ISBN|978-0313341557}} "In the 1920s, British entomologist J.W Heslop Harrison (1881–1967) claimed that pigmentation of these moths was a result of Lamarckism. However, scientists could not repeat Harrison's work, and evolutionary biologists such as Ronald Fisher argued that Harrison's explanation required much higher rates of mutation than had been reported."</ref> His experiments were criticised by [[J. B. S. Haldane]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Haldane | first1 = J. B. S. | year = 1932 | title = The Hereditary Transmission of Acquired Characters | url = | journal = Nature | volume = 129 | issue = 3267| pages = 856–858 | doi=10.1038/129856a0| bibcode = 1932Natur.129..856H | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Heslop Harrison's fourth son was [[Jack Heslop-Harrison]] who became director of the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]] in 1970. His daughter Helena married the botanist [[William Andrew Clark]].<ref>[https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf "Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |date=24 January 2013 }}.</ref>

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[[Category:Academics of Durham UniversityLamarckism]]