Martin Alister Campbell Hinton FRS (29 June 1883 – 3 October 1961) 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 ...

Career

Hinton 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 1910, working on

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, in particular

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s. He became Deputy Keeper of Zoology in 1927 and Keeper in 1936, retiring in 1945. Hinton is among those associated with the Piltdown Man hoax, a composite of an altered human skull and ape jawbone planted, and subsequently 'discovered', at a dig in Piltdown, England, and presented as a

missing link Missing link may refer to: Biology * Missing link (human evolution), a non-scientific term typically referring to transitional fossils * Piltdown Man, a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the "missing link" between ape and man Geog ...

between man and ape. A trunk belonging to Hinton left in storage at the Natural History Museum and found in 1970 contained animal bones and teeth carved and stained in a manner similar to the Piltdown finds, and raising questions about Hinton's involvement in the deception.

References

External links

Web pages and timeline about the Piltdown forgery hosted by the British Geological Survey
English zoologists 1883 births 1961 deaths Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-zoologist-stub