Ramsay Heatley Traquair
Encyclopedia
Ramsay Heatley Traquair was a Scottish naturalist
who became a leading expert on fossil fish.
Born in Rhynd, Perthshire, he trained as a medical doctor, but his thesis was on aspects of fish anatomy. He held posts as Professor of Natural History and Professor of Zoology in England and Ireland, before returning to his native Edinburgh to take up a post at the Museum of Science and Art. He spent the rest of his career there, building up a renowned collection of fossil fish over a period of more than three decades.
He published extensively on palaeoichthyology, authoring many papers and a series of monographs. His studies of rocks and fossils in Scotland overturned earlier work on fossil fish, establishing new taxonomic classifications. His honours included fellowships from a range of learned societies, including the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh
, and the Geological Society of London
. Among his awards for his work on fossil fish are the Lyell Medal
and the Royal Medal
. Traquair was married with three children. He retired in 1906 and died in 1912 at the age of 72.
, Perthshire, Scotland. His father, James, was a Church of Scotland
clergyman, though the family moved to Edinburgh
when the elder Traquair retired soon after the birth of Ramsay, his eighth and last child. Ramsay's mother, Elizabeth, died in 1843. Preparatory school education for the young Traquair was followed by schooling at the Edinburgh Institution. From 1857, he studied medicine and later fish anatomy at Edinburgh University, graduating with his medical degree after five years in August 1862. He was presented with a gold medal for his thesis on flatfish, on the "Asymmetry of the Pleuronectidae
". The anatomists he studied and worked with at Edinburgh included John Goodsir
and William Turner
.
in Cirencester. This appointment included a testimonial from T. H. Huxley, however Traquair's stay at Cirencester was brief as he felt that "this post isolated him from research".
Moving to Dublin, Ireland, in 1867, Traquair took up the position of Professor of Zoology at the Royal College of Science
, working and teaching there for the next six years. This was a government position, with the appointment being made by the "Lords of the Committee of Council on Education". One of the honours accorded him during this period was his election in 1871 to the Royal Irish Academy
. On 5 June 1873 he married the artist Phoebe Anna Moss, whom he had met in Dublin. They had three children: Ramsay (1874); Harry (1875); and Hilda (1879). That same year, Traquair was transferred (again by the government) to Edinburgh to become Keeper of the Natural History Collections at the Museum of Science and Art (later the Royal Scottish Museum).
Traquair would spend the next 33 years working in Edinburgh in charge of the museum's natural history collections, building up a large collection of fossil fish. He was first to be appointed to the post of Keeper of Natural History, a position that had been created by the government to ensure that the museum collections remained independent rather than under the control of the University of Edinburgh's Professor of Natural History, Wyville Thomson. One of the locations where Traquair carried out work on fossil fish was the gorge of Dura Den
, in Fife, Scotland, and his collection from here and elsewhere was considered one of the finest in the world at the time. The deposits that he studied included the Old Red Sandstone
and the Carboniferous
rocks of Scotland. Fossil fish that he classified included the Palaeoniscidae
and the Platysomidae, overturning earlier work by Louis Agassiz
. Much of this work was published over a period of some 37 years as a series of monographs from the Palaeontographical Society
, with some parts being published posthumously.
In 1881, Traquair was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
of London. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Natural History Museum
in London (then part of the British Museum), twice being appointed 'Swiney Lecturer on Geology at the British Museum (Natural History)' for two five-year periods, from 1883 to 1887 and then again from 1896 to 1900. Traquair was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London
. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1874, also serving several periods as Councillor, and being a Vice-President of the Society from 1904 to 1910. He was elected to the Geological Society of London in 1874.
, both from the Geological Society of London. Other awards included the triennial Neill Prize (1874–7) and the biennial Makdougall-Brisbane Prize (1898–1900), both from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Traquair was awarded an honorary LLD from Edinburgh University in 1893. In 1907 he received the Royal Medal
of the Royal Society. The Royal Medal citation was "On the ground of his discoveries relating to fossil fishes". In 1909, Traquair's life and career was documented in the 'Eminent Living Geologists' feature of the Geological Magazine
.
. He died on 22 November 1912, survived by his wife and three children. He is buried in the graveyard at Colinton Parish Church
, with his grave marked by a headstone that his wife designed. Obituaries, and memorial notices and articles were published in the Glasgow Herald, as well as a range of scientific journals.
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
who became a leading expert on fossil fish.
Born in Rhynd, Perthshire, he trained as a medical doctor, but his thesis was on aspects of fish anatomy. He held posts as Professor of Natural History and Professor of Zoology in England and Ireland, before returning to his native Edinburgh to take up a post at the Museum of Science and Art. He spent the rest of his career there, building up a renowned collection of fossil fish over a period of more than three decades.
He published extensively on palaeoichthyology, authoring many papers and a series of monographs. His studies of rocks and fossils in Scotland overturned earlier work on fossil fish, establishing new taxonomic classifications. His honours included fellowships from a range of learned societies, including the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
, and the Geological Society of London
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
. Among his awards for his work on fossil fish are the Lyell Medal
Lyell Medal
The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal, awarded on the basis of research to an Earth Scientist of exceptional quality...
and the Royal Medal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
. Traquair was married with three children. He retired in 1906 and died in 1912 at the age of 72.
Early life
Ramsay Heatley Traquair was born on 30 July 1840 in RhyndRhynd
Rhynd is a hamlet in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located south-east of Perth, on the south side of the River Tay.The parish church was built in 1842, and replaced an earlier church at Easter Rhynd, to the south-east, where the churchyard can still be seen...
, Perthshire, Scotland. His father, James, was a Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
clergyman, though the family moved to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
when the elder Traquair retired soon after the birth of Ramsay, his eighth and last child. Ramsay's mother, Elizabeth, died in 1843. Preparatory school education for the young Traquair was followed by schooling at the Edinburgh Institution. From 1857, he studied medicine and later fish anatomy at Edinburgh University, graduating with his medical degree after five years in August 1862. He was presented with a gold medal for his thesis on flatfish, on the "Asymmetry of the Pleuronectidae
Pleuronectidae
Righteye flounders are a family, Pleuronectidae, of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left side, with both eyes on the right side. The Paralichthyidae are the opposite, with their eyes on the left side.Their dorsal and anal fins are...
". The anatomists he studied and worked with at Edinburgh included John Goodsir
John Goodsir
John Goodsir was a Scottish anatomist, born at Anstruther, Fife. He was a pioneer in the study of the cell.- Life :Goodsir was trained in St Andrews and Edinburgh...
and William Turner
William Turner (University Principal)
Sir William Turner was a British anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916....
.
Career
Traquair initially stayed on at the University of Edinburgh, working as an anatomy demonstrator in the period from 1863 to 1866. He then succeeded in obtaining a post as Professor of Natural History at the Royal Agricultural CollegeRoyal Agricultural College
The Royal Agricultural College is a higher education institution located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English speaking world...
in Cirencester. This appointment included a testimonial from T. H. Huxley, however Traquair's stay at Cirencester was brief as he felt that "this post isolated him from research".
Moving to Dublin, Ireland, in 1867, Traquair took up the position of Professor of Zoology at the Royal College of Science
Royal College of Science for Ireland
The Royal College of Science for Ireland was created as a result of a decision of HM Treasury in 1865 to merge a number of science-oriented education bodies including the Museum of Irish Industry and Government School of Science applied to Mining and the Arts. It was originally based at 51 St...
, working and teaching there for the next six years. This was a government position, with the appointment being made by the "Lords of the Committee of Council on Education". One of the honours accorded him during this period was his election in 1871 to the Royal Irish Academy
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy , based in Dublin, is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is one of Ireland's premier learned societies and cultural institutions and currently has around 420 Members, elected in...
. On 5 June 1873 he married the artist Phoebe Anna Moss, whom he had met in Dublin. They had three children: Ramsay (1874); Harry (1875); and Hilda (1879). That same year, Traquair was transferred (again by the government) to Edinburgh to become Keeper of the Natural History Collections at the Museum of Science and Art (later the Royal Scottish Museum).
Traquair would spend the next 33 years working in Edinburgh in charge of the museum's natural history collections, building up a large collection of fossil fish. He was first to be appointed to the post of Keeper of Natural History, a position that had been created by the government to ensure that the museum collections remained independent rather than under the control of the University of Edinburgh's Professor of Natural History, Wyville Thomson. One of the locations where Traquair carried out work on fossil fish was the gorge of Dura Den
Dura Den
Dura Den is a small, 3 km-long wooded picturesquegorge that is located near Cupar in northeastern Fife, Scotland. This narrow cleft follows a course between the villages of Kemback to the north and Pitscottie to the south. A small stream named the Ceres Burn follows the course of this gorge,...
, in Fife, Scotland, and his collection from here and elsewhere was considered one of the finest in the world at the time. The deposits that he studied included the Old Red Sandstone
Old Red Sandstone
The Old Red Sandstone is a British rock formation of considerable importance to early paleontology. For convenience the short version of the term, 'ORS' is often used in literature on the subject.-Sedimentology:...
and the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
rocks of Scotland. Fossil fish that he classified included the Palaeoniscidae
Palaeoniscidae
Palaeoniscidae is a family of Late Jurassic fish who possessed a bony skeleton and operculum. This group of fish appeared in the Silurian, and died out in the Cretaceous....
and the Platysomidae, overturning earlier work by Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
. Much of this work was published over a period of some 37 years as a series of monographs from the Palaeontographical Society
Palaeontographical Society
The Palaeontographical Society is a learned society established in 1847 and specifically devoted to the advancement of palaeontographical knowledge, i.e., palaeontology...
, with some parts being published posthumously.
In 1881, Traquair was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of London. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London (then part of the British Museum), twice being appointed 'Swiney Lecturer on Geology at the British Museum (Natural History)' for two five-year periods, from 1883 to 1887 and then again from 1896 to 1900. Traquair was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Royal Society of Edinburgh
The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
and a Fellow of the Geological Society of London
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1874, also serving several periods as Councillor, and being a Vice-President of the Society from 1904 to 1910. He was elected to the Geological Society of London in 1874.
Awards and honours
Traquair received the 1881 award from the Wollaston Fund, and in 1901 was awarded the Lyell MedalLyell Medal
The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal, awarded on the basis of research to an Earth Scientist of exceptional quality...
, both from the Geological Society of London. Other awards included the triennial Neill Prize (1874–7) and the biennial Makdougall-Brisbane Prize (1898–1900), both from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Traquair was awarded an honorary LLD from Edinburgh University in 1893. In 1907 he received the Royal Medal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
of the Royal Society. The Royal Medal citation was "On the ground of his discoveries relating to fossil fishes". In 1909, Traquair's life and career was documented in the 'Eminent Living Geologists' feature of the Geological Magazine
Geological Magazine
The Geological Magazine is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1864, covering the earth sciences. It publishes original scientific research papers on geological topics. The journal is published bimonthly by Cambridge University Press....
.
Later years
Traquair retired in 1906 to the Edinburgh suburb of ColintonColinton
Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated 6 kilometres south west of the city centre. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-west it extends to Lanark Road and to the south-west to the City Bypass...
. He died on 22 November 1912, survived by his wife and three children. He is buried in the graveyard at Colinton Parish Church
Colinton Parish Church
Colinton Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The church building is located in Dell Road, Colinton, Edinburgh, Scotland....
, with his grave marked by a headstone that his wife designed. Obituaries, and memorial notices and articles were published in the Glasgow Herald, as well as a range of scientific journals.
External links
- Ramsay Heatley Traquair, L. Hussakof, Science New Series, Vol. 37, No. 953 (Apr. 4, 1913) pp. 509–511
- Professor Ramsay Heatley Traquair includes a self-portrait (adjunct to exhibition held at St Andrews Museum, Fife)
- Traquair, Ramsay Heatley (1840–1912), zoologist (UK National Archives)