Thomson, SIR CHARLES WYVILLE

Thomson, SIR CHARLES WYVILLE, zoologist, was born at Bonsyde, Linlithgow, March 5, 1830, and had his education at Merchiston Castle school and the university of Edinburgh. In 1850 he began to lecture on botany at Aberdeen, in 1853 he was appointed to the chair of Natural History in Queen's College, Cork, in 1854 of Mineralogy and Geology in Queen's College, Belfast, and in 1870 to that of Natural History in the university of Edinburgh. He conducted scientific dredging expeditions in the Lightning and Poreupine (1868-69), and was scientific head of the famous Challenger voyage of 68,900 miles for deep-sea explorations (1872-76). He was knighted in 1876, presided over the geographical section of the British Association at Dublin in 1878, and died at Edinburgh, 10th March 1882. His books were The Depths of the Sea (1872) and The Voyage of the Challenger, a preliminary account of its general results (2 vols. 1877). See CHALLENGER.