Thomas Henry Huxley

In 1855, Thomas Huxley married Henrietta Anne Heathorn whom he had met in Sydney. The couple had five daughters and three sons. His oldest son, Noel, died at the age of four.

Biographers have noted that many members of his family, including the biologist’s father, brothers and a daughter suffered from mental illnesses. He himself suffered from depression while on HMS Rattlesnake.

He died of a heart attack in 1895.

Thomas Henry Huxley was born in Ealing, Middlesex to George, a mathematics teacher at Ealing School and Rachel Withers. He was the second youngest of the eight children.

At the age of ten, he had to leave school because his family was put into financial difficulties following the closure of Ealing School. He began to educate himself and became an expert on invertebrates.

In 1838, he was taken for short periods as apprentice to several medical practitioners. While working as an apprentice to Thomas Chandler, a pioneer in mesmerism, and John Salt, he continued his reading.

In 1841, he joined the Sydenham College and won a silver medal in the Apothecaries' yearly competition. He then entered Charing Cross Hospital to pursue his education, where he got a scholarship.

He appeared in his first M.B examination at the University of London and earned gold medals in anatomy and physiology. However, he failed to appear for his second exams and therefore did not get a degree.

He applied for an appointment in the Royal Navy in 1845. His apprenticeships and exam results formed a sufficient basis for his application and he became Assistant Surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake.

The Rattlesnake started from England in 1846 on a voyage to New Guinea and Australia. He sent his discoveries, based on his study of marine invertebrates, to Edward Forbes, his mentor, to get them published.

His paper, ‘On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the Family of Medusae’, published in 1849, united the Hydroid and Sertularian polyps with the Medusae to form a class which he named ‘Hydrozoa’.

After he returned to England in 1850, in recognition of his work, he was selected a ‘Fellow of the Royal Society’ and met lifelong friends Joseph Dalton Hooker and John Tyndall.

The Navy retained him so that he could study the specimens collected during his voyage. In 1851, he showed that Appendicularia and Ascidians are both tunicates and related to the vertebrates in the phylum Chordata.

In his famous essay, ‘On the Physical Basis of Life’, 1869, Huxley insisted that life and even thought were at bottom of molecular phenomena. He invented the word ‘agnostic’ to express his theological position.

In 1893, his ‘Collected Essays’ was published in nine volumes including, ‘Method and Results’, ‘Darwiniana’, ‘Science and Education’, ‘Science and Hebrew Tradition and Christian Tradition’, and ‘Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays’.