Martin Alister Campbell Hinton FRS[1] (29 June 1883 – 3 October 1961) was a British zoologist.

Martin Hinton
Born
Martin Alister Campbell Hinton

(1883-06-29)29 June 1883
Died3 October 1961(1961-10-03) (aged 78)
Known forWork on Piltdown Man
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society[1]
Scientific career
InstitutionsNatural History Museum, London

Career

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Hinton joined the staff of the Natural History Museum in 1910,[2] working on mammals, in particular rodents. 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 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.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Savage, R. J. G. (1963). "Martin Alister Campbell Hinton 1883-1961". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 9: 155–170. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1963.0008.
  2. ^ Gardiner, Brian G. (2003). "The Piltdown forgery: a re-statement of the case against Hinton". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 139 (3): 315–335. doi:10.1046/j.1096-3642.2003.00079.x.
  3. ^ The Unmasking Of Piltdown Man BBC News Web. Accessed 9 June 2008
  4. ^ Weiner, J. S.; Stringer, Chris (20 November 2003). The Piltdown Forgery: 50th Anniversary Edition. Oxford University Press. pp. 196–197. ISBN 0-19-860780-6.
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