Paul H. Harvey One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 19 January 1947) is a British

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

. He is Professor of

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

and was head of the zoology department at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1998 to 2011 and Secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 2000 to 2011, holding these posts in conjunction with a professorial

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

Education

Harvey was educated at the University of York where he was awarded

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degrees.

Research and career

Harvey has led the development of robust statistical methods to decipher evolutionary relationships. His work has applied a rigorous basis to the comparative method in evolutionary biology — employed since the days of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

— and as such, he has shaped modern thinking in the field. The comparative method of evolutionary biology is used to correlate characteristics between species. Paul pioneered techniques to use the data and knowledge available in modern science, whilst avoiding artefacts, in untangling the evolutionary relationships between organisms. These problem-solving tools for evolutionary studies have become widely used. His former students include

Oliver Pybus Oliver George Pybus is a British biologist. He is professor of evolution and infectious disease at the University of Oxford and professor of infectious diseases at the Royal Veterinary College. He is also editor-in-chief of Virus Evolution and c ...

Georgina Mace Dame Georgina Mary Mace, One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (12 July 1953 – 19 September 2020) was a British ecologist and conservation scientist. She was Professor of Biodiver ...

, Andrew Read, Andrew Rambaut and Eddie Holmes.

Selected publications

* *Harvey, P.H. Martin, R.D., & Clutton-Brock, T.H. (1987) ''Life Histories in Comparative Perspective''. In ''Primate Societies''. Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., Struhsaker, T.T. (eds). Chicago & London:University of Chicago Press. pp. 181–196 *Harvey, P.H. & Pagel, M.D. (1991) ''The Comparative Method in Evolutionary Biology''. Oxford Monographs in Ecology and Evolution edited by Harvey, P.H. and May, R.M.. Oxford University Press. * * * *. Also see and *

Awards and honours

Harvey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1992 in recognition of his status as a leading evolutionary biologist of his era. Harvey was awarded the Scientific Medal and the Frink Award from the Zoological Society of London, the J. Murray Luck Award from the National Academy of Sciences, and the University of Helsinki Medal. He is an ISI highly cited researcher. From 2000 to 2011, he served as Secretary of the Zoological Society of London (constitutionally the Chief Executive responsible for London and Whipsnade Zoos, the Institute of Zoology, and the Conservation Programmes) He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

References

Living people 1947 births English biologists British evolutionary biologists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Secretaries of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of Merton College, Oxford {{UK-biologist-stub