Edward Percival Wright facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edward Percival Wright
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | December 27, 1834 |
| Died | March 2, 1910 (aged 75) Dublin, Ireland
|
| Citizenship | Irish |
| Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin |
Edward Percival Wright (born 27 December 1834 in Donnybrook, Dublin, died 2 March 1910 in Dublin) was a very clever Irish scientist. He was an expert in three main areas: eye surgery (called ophthalmology), plants (called botany), and animals (called zoology).
Contents
Edward Wright's Early Life and Studies
Edward was the oldest son of Edward and Charlotte Wright. He had a brother named Charles Henry Hamilton Wright. Edward was taught at home by a special tutor. He learned about nature from a teacher named George James Allman.
In 1852, Edward started studying at Trinity College, Dublin. He earned his first degree in 1857. That same year, he became the Curator of the University Museum at Trinity. This meant he was in charge of the museum's collections. The next year, 1858, he started teaching about animals as a Lecturer in Zoology. He held this job for ten years.
While teaching, he also studied medicine. He lectured about plants at a medical school in Dublin. He earned more degrees, including a Master of Arts in 1859 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1862. Edward also helped start an important science magazine called the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology in 1867.
Becoming an Eye Surgeon and Professor
After his medical studies, Wright traveled to Vienna, Paris, and Berlin. He learned about eye surgery there. In Berlin, he was taught by a famous eye doctor, Albrecht von Gräfe.
Edward practiced eye surgery both before and after becoming a Professor of Botany at Trinity College, Dublin in 1869. He kept this important job until 1905. He also became the Curator of the herbarium, which is a collection of dried plants.
In 1872, he married Emily Shaw. They did not have any children.
Adventures and Discoveries
Edward Wright loved to travel! He spent most of his holidays exploring Europe. He collected many different plants and animals for his studies.
Exploring Far-Off Lands
In 1867, he spent six months in the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. There, he collected many animals and plants. He even studied large creatures like the Whale shark in great detail.
The next year, 1868, he visited Sicily in the spring. In the autumn, he explored the coast of Portugal. He used special equipment to pull up specimens from the deep sea.
He later went on more trips to Portugal and Sicily with his friend Alexander Henry Haliday. Sicily was not well-known to scientists at the time. Wright once wrote, "I have still a strong harkening for Sicily were it but to set foot on the soil and breathe the air of it." This shows how much he loved the island. His friend Haliday died shortly after their last trip. Wright then took care of Haliday's insect collections, continuing their twenty-year friendship.
Studying Nature and Science
Edward Wright was interested in many different parts of nature. In 1854, he started a science magazine called the Natural History Review, which he also edited. He wrote articles about many things, including Irish birds, fungi that grow on insects, collecting snails and slugs, and sea creatures like anemones and sponges.
Exploring Caves and Oceans
In 1857, he went on a cave exploration trip with Alexander Henry Haliday to Mitchelstown Caves in County Galway. They studied the insects living in the caves. One cave insect, Lipura wrightii, was later named after him!
He also worked with Dr. Théophile Rudolphe Studer to study corals (a type of sea animal) collected during the famous Challenger expedition around the world. They published a report in 1889.
In the 1850s, very rare fossils of ancient amphibians were found in a coal mine in Ireland. These fossils are extremely rare worldwide. Wright worked with a famous scientist, Thomas Henry Huxley, to describe these amazing discoveries.
Wright's main research was about animals living in the sea. In 1858, he reported on the sea animals found off the south and west coasts of Ireland. He was one of the first scientists to use special dredges to collect creatures from very deep water (800–900 meters) in Portugal. He also described a new type of tiny sea creature called a copepod in 1870. He wrote about Irish sponges in 1869 and different types of algae (seaweed). A type of alga, Cocconeopsis wrightii, was named in his honor.
Scientific Societies and Awards
Edward Wright was very active in scientific groups. He was the Secretary of the Dublin University Zoological and Botanical Association and the Royal Geological Society of Ireland. He was also a member of the Dublin Microscopical Club. From 1900 to 1902, he was the president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
In 1857, he became a member of the Royal Irish Academy. In 1883, he received their special Cunningham Medal. This award was given to him for his excellent work in editing the society's scientific publications.
Edward Percival Wright passed away at Trinity College on 2 March 1910. He was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin.
Legacy
Edward Wright is remembered in the scientific name of a type of lizard, Trachylepis wrightii. This shows how important his work was to science.
Selected Works
Here are some of the scientific works Edward Percival Wright published:
- (1855) Catalogue of British Mollusca. Natural History Review Society (Proceedings of Societies) 2: 69–85.
- (1859) Notes on the Irish nudibranchiata. Natural History Review Society (Proceedings of Societies) 6: 86–88.
- (1859) with Greene, J.R. 1859 Report on the marine fauna of the south and west coasts of Ireland. Report for the British Association for the Advancement of Science : 176–181
- (1860) Wright, E.P. 1860 Notes on the Irish nudibranchiata. Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin 2: 135–137.
- (1864) Translation of F. C. Donders's The Pathogeny of Squint (1864)
- (1865) Notes on Colias edusa. Proceedings of the Dublin Natural History Society 5: 7–8.
- (1866) with Huxley, T. H. On a collection of fossils from the Jarrow Colliery, Kilkenny Geological Magazine, v. 3, p. 165–171.
- (1867) with Huxley, T.H. On a Collection of Fossil Vertebrata from the Jarrow Colliery County Kilkenny Ireland. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 24 – Science.
- (1868) Notes on the bats of the Seychelles group of islands. Annals and Magazine of Natural History.
- (1868) Notes on Irish sponges. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 10: 221–228.
- (1870). Six months at the Seychelles. Spicilegia Zoologica, Dublin 1, 64–65.
- (1872) English translation and revision of Louis Figuier The ocean world. New York: D. Appleton.
- (1875) English translation and revision of Louis Figuier Mammalia, Their Various Forms and Habits London, Cassell & Company, Ltd. Reprinted until 1892.
- (1877) On a new genus and species of sponge Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, ser. 2, v. 2, p. 754–757, pl. 40.
- (1889) with Studer, T. Report on the Alcyonaria -Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger Zoology 31, i–lxxvii + 1.– 314.
- (1896) The herbarium of Trinity College, a retrospect Notes from the Botanical School of Trinity College, Dublin, 1, 1–14
