Huxley, Julian Sorell

If I am to be remembered, I hope it will not be primarily for my specialized scientific work, but as a generalist; one to whom, enlarging Terence's words, nothing human and nothing in external nature was alien. Julian S. Huxley, Memories

Julian Sorell Huxley, the grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley and great-nephew of Matthew Arnold, was born June 22, 1887. The union of the Huxley and Arnold families brought about a happy combination of what Julian's younger brother Aldous would call blue genes, but the combined family traditions also imposed an obligation of intellectual excellence and social responsibility. This obligation was keenly felt by Julian Huxley from an early age. It was enhanced by his affinity for the interests which had earned his grandfather his place in the history of science, and thus, it soon became apparent that young Julian would be Thomas Huxley's intellectual heir as well as his grandson. This inheritance would prove both a joy and a burden, for while Julian Huxley achieved great renown as a scientist and popularizer of science, he was plagued, like his grandfather, by serious and debilitating attacks of depression. In spite of this he was able, throughout a long career, to contribute significantly to the fields of ethology, ecology and cancer research, and to act effectively as a powerful proponent of neo-Darwinism.

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