Colin Gasking Butler

OBE 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 o ...

FRS (26 October 1913 – 4 January 2016) was a British entomologist who first isolated the

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

, known as "queen substance", which attracts

drones Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

queen bee A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female ( gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are develope ...

s. The son of a schoolmaster, Butler was born at

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

and educated at

Monkton Combe School (Thy Word is Truth) , established = , type = Public school Independent school Boarding school , founder = The Revd Francis Pocock , head_label = Head Master , head ...

, Bath, and at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, c ...

. Following his graduation, he won a scholarship doing research at the

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries may refer to one of several national organisations: * Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, formerly the ''Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing'' * Ministry of Agriculture (France) * Ministry o ...

and was later appointed to superintend

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

's entomological field station. He eventually left Cambridge for the entomology department of the

Rothamsted Experimental Station Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harp ...

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. H ...

, where his research helped to uncover the "queen substance" pheromone. He worked at Rothamsted until his retirement in 1976 as head of the entomology department, publishing several books."Butler, Dr Colin Gasking"
''Who's Who 2013'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edn, November 2012; accessed 22 July 2017.

Other

Butler served as president of the Cornwall Naturalists Trust and the National Trust Regional Committee member for Devon and Cornwall.

Death

Butler died on 4 January 2016 at the age of 102 after a short illness.Obituary: Butler, Dr Colin Gasking, OBE, FRS
legacy.com; accessed 22 July 2017.

References

Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society 1913 births 2016 deaths British centenarians British entomologists Men centenarians New Naturalist writers People educated at Monkton Combe School Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge {{UK-entomologist-stub