Beer Gavin Rylands

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Biografie:
Gavin Rylands de Beer 1899-1972
Sir Gavin de Beer, among the most versatile of men, was elected to the Club on a literary qualification in 1941. Never a climber in any real sense, he was an inveterate walker, giving his recreation in Who's Who as 'Wandering About'. His polymath spirit was exactly reflected in the preamble to the British Museums Act 1753 which after referring to 'philosophical curiosity' goes on 'all arts and sciences have a connexion with each other, and discoveries in natural philosophy and other branches of speculative knowledge ... do and may in many instances give help and success to the most useful experiments and inventions'. It was those sentiments which informed his history of the inhabitants of Switzerland, his research into Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, his love of all eighteenth-century matters, in particular Edward Gibbon and all his works, and his formidable output of criticism and review. It has been said of him that he brought to his work evidence from such diverse sciences as glaciology, palaeontology, geography, hydrology, astronomy, botany, zoology and haematology.
As a scientist his formal career was: Demonstrator of Zoology at Oxford; Professor of Embryology at University College, London; Fellow of the Royal Society; and Director,ofthe British Museum (Natural History). As an embryologist he is famous principally for his Development of the Vertebrate Skull and Embryos and Ancestors. As an evolutionist he will be remembered for his many writings on Darwin. He himself would also wish to be remembered as a Grenadier in both World Wars. In the mountaineering world he will be best recalled as a leading authority on the early ascents of Mont Blanc, and of Dr Paccard in particular. With T. Graham Brown he produced in the AC's Centenary year a monumental record ofthe first ascent of Mont Blanc, making perhaps the major contribution. It would be idle to pretend, and he loathed pretence, that he was not sometimes a contentious figure and the pages of the Alpine Journal reflect this, notably at the times of his Travellers in Switzerland (1949) and Alps and Elephants (1955). To serious criticisms of the latter he refused to reply, taking the line that he had stated his views and that was that. Some of his earlier books were severely handled in the AJ, and to these reviews he made a pungent rejoinder in 45-424. All those who knew this tri-lingual Harrovian enjoyed his wit, his learning, his photographic memory, his didactic tenacity, his brushings aside of the opinions held by his friends, and his warmth. The passing of so distinguished a character is deeply regretted by a diversity of his fellow creatures. He thought of them as that.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 78, 1973, Seite 282-283

Geboren am:
1899
Gestorben am:
1972