Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, FRS (23 May 1864 – 2 September 1944) was an English

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, known as a world expert in fossil fish. He also described the Piltdown Man fossils, which were later determined to be fraudulent. He is not related to Henry Woodward, whom he replaced as curator of the Geology Department of the British Museum of Natural History.

Biography

Woodward was born in

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England and was educated there and at Owens College, Manchester. He joined the staff of the Department of Geology at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in 1882. He became assistant Keeper of Geology in 1892, and Keeper in 1901. He was appointed Secretary of the Palaeontographical Society and in 1904, was appointed President of the Geological Society. He was elected in June 1901 a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

He was the world expert on fossil fish, writing his ''Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum'' (1889–1901). His travels included journeys to

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and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. In 1901, for the trustees of the Natural History Museum, he made excavations of fossil bones from Pikermi (near

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

). His contribution to palaeoichthyology resulted in him receiving many awards, including a

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

from 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 1917, the Lyell and Wollaston Medals of the Geological Society, the Linnean Medal of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

and the Clarke Medal of the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

in 1914. He retired from the museum in 1924. In 1942 Woodward was awarded the Mary Clark Thompson Medal from the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. Woodward's reputation suffered from his involvement in the Piltdown Man hoax where he gave a name to a new species of

hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

from southern England, which was ultimately discovered (after Woodward's death) to have been a forgery. Woodward was a leading advocate of

orthogenesis Orthogenesis, also known as orthogenetic evolution, progressive evolution, evolutionary progress, or progressionism, is an Superseded theories in science, obsolete biological hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolution, evolve ...

. He believed there was a general trend in evolution from the fossil record and speculated that the human brain might have been the product of such a trend. He discussed his views on

human evolution ''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...

in his book ''The Earliest Englishman'' (1948). He married Maud Leanora Ida Seeley, the daughter of zoologist Harry Govier Seeley, in 1894. Woodward died in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath ( ) is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, in 1944 at the age of 80.

Legacy

On 21 May 2014 a one-day symposium was held at the Natural History Museum in London to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Woodward's birth. Speakers were selected to give not just historical accounts of the man and his science but also accounts of how current research connects back to his influence. The proceedings of this symposium were published in March 2016.Johanson, Z., Barrett, P. M. , Richter, M. & Smith, M. (eds) 2016. Arthur Smith Woodward: His Life and Influence on Modern Vertebrate Palaeontology. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 430.

Collections

Woodward's library was purchased by

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1945 with assistance from

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for Eugenic feminism, eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and co ...

. The collection spans c.2500 items; many books contain autograph letters to Woodward, including correspondence from

Florentino Ameghino Florentino Ameghino (born Giovanni Battista Fiorino Giuseppe Ameghino; September 19, 1853 – August 6, 1911) was an Argentine naturalist, paleontologist, anthropologist and zoologist, whose fossil discoveries on the Argentine Pampas, especial ...

, Charles Barrois, Georg Baur, and Bashford Deanan.

References

External links

*
The Earliest Englishman
', by Sir Arthur Smith Woodward hinker's Library, No.127 London: Watts & Co., 1948.
Web pages and timeline about the Piltdown forgery hosted by the British Geological Survey

An annotated select bibliography of the Piltdown forgery by David G Bate

Sir Arthur Smith Woodward Collection
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Arthur Smith 1864 births 1944 deaths People from Macclesfield Employees of the Natural History Museum, London British palaeontologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Royal Medal winners Wollaston Medal winners Lyell Medal winners Fellows of the Geological Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society Presidents of the Linnean Society of London Presidents of the Geologists' Association Presidents of the Geological Society of London