Malcolm Laurie

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FLS (27 February 1866 – 16 July 1932) was a Scottish zoologist and palaeontologist.

Biography

He was born in Brunstane House south of

Portobello, Edinburgh Portobello is a coastal suburb of Edinburgh in eastern central Scotland. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of the city centre, facing the Firth of Forth, between the suburbs of Joppa, Edinburgh, Joppa and Craigentinny. Although historically it ...

on 27 February 1866, the son of Catherine Ann Hibburd and her husband Simon Somerville Laurie. He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

1876 to 1880. He studied science, first at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

then at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where he graduated with a BA in 1889. He returned to Edinburgh for postgraduate studies and gained his doctorate (DSc) in 1894. On gaining his doctorate he received an immediate post as Professor of Zoology at St Mungo's College,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 1918 he returned to Edinburgh to lecture in Zoology at both the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

and the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is locate ...

. In 1894 he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

James Cossar Ewart James Cossar Ewart Royal Society, FRS FRSE (26 November 1851 – 31 December 1933) was a Scottish zoologist. He performed breeding experiments with horses and zebras which disproved earlier theories of heredity. Life Ewart was born in Pe ...

James Geikie James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was professor of geology at the University of Edinburgh from 1882 to 1914. Early life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geiki ...

, Sir William Turner and

Ramsay Heatley Traquair Ramsay Heatley Traquair FRSE FRS (30 July 1840 – 22 November 1912) was a Scottish naturalist and palaeontologist who became a leading expert on fossil fish. Traquair trained as a medical doctor, but his thesis was on aspects of fish anatomy ...

. He was also a Fellow 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 ...

. He became examiner in zoology at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1899. In 1907 he was living at "The Bloom", a villa on Canaan Lane in south-west Edinburgh.

Family

His father was the educator Simon Somerville Laurie. He was the younger brother of chemist

Arthur Pillans Laurie Prof Arthur Pillans Laurie FRSE LLD (6 November 1861 – 7 October 1949) was a Scottish chemist who pioneered the scientific analysis of paintings, especially by Rembrandt. He was also a Nazi sympathiser who opposed the Second World War. Early ...

(1861-1949), both of whom were also Fellows of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

Reception

In a letter to

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

, three scientists wrote "The systematic position of

Limulus ''Limulus'' is a genus of horseshoe crab, with one extant species, the Atlantic horseshoe crab (''Limulus polyphemus''). One fossil species is currently assigned to the genus though several other species have been named, which have since been a ...

has long been a vexed question, which no one can attempt to solve without consulting the work of Malcolm Laurie on the fossil

Eurypterid Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct marine arthropods that form the Order (biology), order Eurypterida. The earliest known eurypterids date to the Darriwilian stage of the Ordovician period, 467.3 Myr, mil ...

s."

Works

Laurie published numerous papers on the arachnids, especially the scorpions. For instance: *
reprint
He also published: *

References

External links

Prof. Malcolm Laurie
(summary of sources) 1866 births 1932 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century British zoologists 19th-century Scottish scientists Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Academics of the University of Glasgow 20th-century Scottish zoologists {{Scotland-scientist-stub