George Adrian Horridge FRS FAA (12 December 1927 – 30 April 2024) was an Australian neurobiologist and professor at Australian National University.[1][2]
George Adrian Horridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 12 December 1927 Sheffield, England |
| Died | 30 April 2024 (aged 96) Canberra, Australia |
| Education | Cambridge |
| Awards | FRS (1969), FAA (1971) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neurobiology |
| Institutions | University of St Andrews Australian National University |
| Website | adrian-horridge |
Life and career
editHorridge was born in Sheffield, England, to George William Horridge (1897-1981) and Olive (1899-1995), daughter of Albert Stray, who owned a chain of sweetshops.[3] The Horridge family had operated a business in Sheffield- William Horridge and Company, "Stag, Buck, Horn, Wood and Buffalo Handles, and Scale Cutters"- since 1750, producing amongst other things ivory scales for piano keys, combs, and knife handles. His paternal grandfather was the last to be involved with the company, which was sold in 1921 for £15,000 ("when you could buy a house for £100"); after World War I, Horridge's father started a motorbike repair and sale business in his back yard, which expanded until he and a business partner were substantial motorcycle agents with a showroom and repair shops.[4]
He attended King Edward VII School. He obtained a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge in 1946.[5] He earned a PhD from the University of Cambridge and was appointed to a Fellowship in Chemistry at St. John's in 1953.[6] From 1960 till 1969 he was Director of the Gatty Marine Laboratory at the University of St Andrews. From 1969 till 1993 he was a professor at the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University, and subsequently Emeritus Professor. He lived in Yarralumla, Canberra. In retirement he produced a number of books and articles on bee vision.
In 1965 together with Ted Bullock, he published the two-volume “bible of invertebrate neurobiology”: Structure and Function in the Nervous System of Invertebrates. [7]
He received the Zoological Society of London Scientific Medal in 1968 for his work on the anatomy and physiology of nervous systems of invertebrates. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1969 and to the Australian Academy of Science in 1971. In 2001 he was awarded a Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society in the biological sciences".[8]
In 1975 he served for three months as the Chief Scientist aboard the US Research Ship Alpha Helix in the Moluccas, working mainly on the eyes of deep-sea animals. On this trip his interest in Indonesian sailboats developed. He wrote two books and numerous articles on Indonesian canoes and sailing craft.
In 2019 a very large virus, Megaklothovirus horridgei was named after him.
Horridge was married for 59 years to Audrey (1930-2013), daughter of Rev. Harcourt Robert Henry Lightburne, vicar of St Mary's, Upchurch, Kent. She was a Girton College, Cambridge and Barnett House, Oxford graduate responsible for the Service for Overseas Students- coordinating over 30,000 nationwide- with the Australian Development Agency, and formerly a social planner with the National Capital Development Commission. Horridge left a son and four daughters.[9][10]
Works
edit- What Does the Honeybee See?: And How Do We Know?. ANU E Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-921536-98-4.
- John Aloimonos, ed. (1997). "Pattern and 3D Vision of Insects". Visual navigation: from biological systems to unmanned ground vehicles. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-8058-2050-8.
References
edit- ^ Horridge, George Adrian, Biographical entry, Encyclopedia of Australian Science
- ^ "Vale Adrian Horridge, A Man of Many Accomplishments" (PDF). Research School of Biology Newsletter. Australian National University. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
- ^ "Family history" (PDF). Adrian-Horridge.org. Adrian Horridge.
- ^ "Professor Adrian Horridge, neurobiologist | Australian Academy of Science".
- ^ KES Magazine, July 1946, www.oldedwardians.org.uk
- ^ KES Magazine, Summer 1953, King Edward VII School Sheffield
- ^ Caspers, H. (1966). "Bullock, Theodore Holmes, and G. Adrian Horridge: Structure and Function in the Nervous System of Invertebrates. 2 vol. San Francisco and London: W. H. Freeman a. Comp. LTD. 1965. XXVIII + 1722 pp. $4 27.–". Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie und Hydrographie. 51 (3): 544. doi:10.1002/iroh.19660510312.
- ^ Centenary Medal, 1 January 2001, It's an Honour
- ^ The Discovery of a Visual System: The Honeybee, Adrian Horridge, CABI, 2019, "About the author", p. viii
- ^ The Year 2012-2013 Girton College Cambridge, The Annual Review of Girton College, Girton College Cambridge, pp. 94-5