Guy Coburn Robson (1888–1945) was a British

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, specializing in

Mollusca Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

, who first named and described '' Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni'', the colossal squid. Robson studied at the marine biological station in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, and joined the staff of 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 1911, becoming Deputy Keeper of the Zoology Department from 1931 to 1936.

Evolution

Robson is best known for his major book ''The Variations of Animals in Nature'' (co-authored with O. W. Richards, 1936) which argued that although the fact of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

is well established, the mechanisms are largely hypothetical and undemonstrated.Allee, W. C. (1937)
''The Variation of Animals in Nature: A Critical Summary and Judgment of Evolutionary Theories by G. C. Robson, O. W. Richards''
''

American Journal of Sociology The ''American Journal of Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed bi-monthly academic journal that publishes original research and book reviews in the field of sociology and related social sciences. It was founded in 1895 as the first journal in its disci ...

'' 42 (4): 596–597. The book claims that most differences among animal populations and related species are non-adaptive. It was published before major developments in the modern synthesis and contains critical evaluation of

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

. It was positively reviewed in science journals in the 1930s. Zoologist Mark Ridley has noted that "Robson and Richards suggested that the differences between species are non-adaptive and have nothing to do with natural selection." Historian

Will Provine William Ball Provine (February 19, 1942 – September 1, 2015) was an American historian of science and of evolutionary biology and population genetics. He was the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor at Cornell Universi ...

has commented that the book "has been in disrepute since the late 1940s because of its antagonism to natural selection" but notes that it was the "best known general work on animal taxonomy" before the work of

Julian Huxley Sir Julian Sorell Huxley (22 June 1887 – 14 February 1975) was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and Internationalism (politics), internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentiet ...

and

Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr ( ; ; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was a German-American evolutionary biologist. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher of biology, and ...

. Huxley in '' Evolution: The Modern Synthesis'' (1942), described the book as "an undue belittling of the role of selection in evolution."

Eponymy

The following marine species have been named after Guy Robson to honour his contribution to science: * '' Abralia robsoni'' Grimpe, 1931 * genus '' Robsonella'' W. Adam, 1938 * '' Onykia robsoni'' (Adam, 1962) * '' Amphioctopus robsoni'' (Adam, 1941) * '' Opisthoteuthis robsoni'' O'Shea, 1999 * ''Uroteuthis'' (''Photololigo'') ''robsoni'' (Alexeyev, 1992) * '' Digitosepia robsoni'' (Massy, 1927)

Publications

*''Guide to the Mollusca exhibited in the Zoological Department, British Museum'' (1923)
''The Species Problem''
(1926) *''A Monograph of the Recent Cephalopoda. Based on the collections in the British Museum, Natural History'' (two volumes, 1929–1932)
''The Variation of Animals in Nature''
(with O. W. Richards) (1936)

Quotes

References

*''The Natural History Museum'' – William T. Stearn 1888 births 1945 deaths 20th-century British zoologists Employees of the Natural History Museum, London British malacologists Non-Darwinian evolution Teuthologists {{UK-zoologist-stub