Sir Frederick Stratten Russell (3 November 1897 – 5 June 1984) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

. Russell was born in

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and wit ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, and studied at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. From 1924 he worked for the

Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel H ...

in Plymouth, becoming its director in 1945. He was elected to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1938, was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1961, and knighted in 1965. The National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association retains much of Russell's scientific and personal papers for the period 1921-1984.Sir Frederick Stratten Russell F.R.S.
MBA Archive Collection Russell studied the life histories and distribution of

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

. He also discovered a means of distinguishing between different species of fish shortly after they have hatched. He was the author of ''The Medusae of the British Isles'' (1953–1970). He served in both World Wars, being awarded, among others, the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was the father of W. M. S. Russell.

Taxon named in his honor

* Russell’s dragonet, '' Callionymus russelli'' C. R. Johnson, 1976

References

1897 births 1984 deaths English marine biologists Fellows of the Royal Society People from Bridport Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Linnean Medallists Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-biologist-stub