Frederic Wood Jones facts for kids

Frederic Wood Jones (January 23, 1879 – September 29, 1954) was a British scientist. He was known as Wood Jones. He studied nature, how living things develop (embryology), the human body (anatomy), and early humans (anthropology). He spent a lot of time working in Australia.

About Wood Jones's Life

Wood Jones was born in London, England. He wrote many books about early humans. He was especially interested in how they adapted to living in trees. He was one of the first people to help create the field of modern physical anthropology. This is the study of human evolution and how humans vary.

He had some ideas that were different from what most scientists believed. For example, he thought that traits an animal gained during its life could be passed on to its children. This idea was against Darwinism, which is about evolution through natural selection.

Wood Jones taught at several universities. These included the London School of Medicine for Women, the University of Adelaide, and the University of Melbourne. He also taught at the University of Hawaii, the University of Manchester, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

He was the president of the Royal Society of South Australia in 1927. He also received important awards for his work. He got the RM Johnston Memorial Medal in 1925 and the Clarke Medal in 1941. From 1943 to 1945, he was the President of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

In 1910, he married Gertrude Clunies-Ross in London. She was also a scientist and became a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London. She was only the second woman to be the librarian for that society.

Wood Jones's Ideas on Human Ancestry

Wood Jones had a special idea about where humans came from. It was called the Tarsian hypothesis. He believed that humans did not evolve from apes or monkeys. Instead, he thought humans came from a much older, simpler group of primates. These primates were similar to a small animal called the Tarsier.

He thought that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys, and apes was a very basic primate. This ancestor lived more than 30 million years ago. He believed that humans developed separately from apes and monkeys from this early ancestor. The only living relative of this ancient group, according to him, was the Tarsier.

In his book The Ancestry Of Man (1923), Wood Jones explained his idea. He said that the usual idea of human evolution was wrong. He thought that lemurs, monkeys, and apes were not steps on the path to humans. Instead, he believed humans came from a Tarsioid-like form. He also thought that monkeys and apes had changed more from this Tarsioid form than humans had. This meant they were not our direct ancestors, but more like distant cousins.

Wood Jones explained why humans and apes have some similar body features. He thought this was due to convergent evolution. This is when different species develop similar traits because they live in similar environments or face similar challenges. It doesn't mean they came from the same recent ancestor.

He wrote in 1948 that if we ever find the true ancestors of humans, they would not look like the "ape-men" that some people imagined.

Wood Jones's Philosophy

Wood Jones had his own ideas about life and nature. He did not believe in organized religion or a personal God. Instead, he thought there was a "cosmic mind" or a universal intelligence behind nature.

He supported a way of thinking called holism. This idea suggests that parts of something can only be understood by looking at the whole. He was also a strong critic of Darwinism, as mentioned before. He wrote about his philosophical views in his book Design and Purpose (1942).