A year-long programme of events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of renowned biologist, mathematician and classics scholar D’Arcy Thompson kicked off at Dundee University this week.
An exhibition titled D’Arcy Thompson: Growth And Form will be held at the Lamb Gallery until May 22 after it was officially opened by university principal Professor Pete Downes.
D’Arcy Thompson was the first chair of biology at University College Dundee, now Dundee University, and also spent many years working at St Andrews University.
Professor Downes paid tribute to the pioneering scientist, saying, “He held chairs in zoology and later natural history for a total of 64 years until his death, aged 88, a record that surely cannot be broken.”
The exhibition looks at Thompson’s 32 years as Dundee University’s first professor of biology and founder of the zoology museum, his international fisheries work, expeditions to the Bering Sea on behalf of the government, and the writing of his masterpiece On Growth And Form.
It includes unique material from the collections of Dundee and St Andrews universities, National Museums Scotland, Perth Museum and Art Gallery and the St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum.
A companion exhibition is being held at the Gateway Galleries, St Andrews, from March 20 to May 3.
The programme is co-ordinated by Dundee University museum services in association with the College of Life Sciences, St Andrews University’s museum collections, with funding from the Royal Society’s Local Heroes programme.
People can keep up with events as they are added to the schedule is by becoming a “friend” of Thompson on Facebook.
More information can also be found on www.darcythompson.org.