George Owen Mackie facts for kids

George Owen Mackie (October 20, 1929 – August 25, 2023) was a famous British-Canadian scientist. He was a biology professor at the University of Victoria. Before that, he worked at the University of Alberta. Dr. Mackie spent his career studying how tiny sea animals, called invertebrates, move and react. He was born in Lincolnshire, England. He earned several degrees from the University of Oxford. Later, he became a special member of important science groups, like the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of London.

Studying Sea Creatures

Dr. Mackie loved studying jellyfish and other animals without backbones. He wanted to understand how their bodies work. Specifically, he looked at how their "skin" cells, called excitable epithelia, send signals. He also studied how their nerves and muscles work together for movement. This field is called invertebrate behavioural physiology.

Discoveries in Jellyfish

One of his big discoveries was with a type of jellyfish called Aglantha. With his colleague Robert Meech, he found something amazing. The jellyfish's nerve cells, called axons, could send two different kinds of electrical signals. One signal, using sodium, helped the jellyfish swim very fast. The other signal, using calcium, helped it swim slowly.

Insights into Sponges

Dr. Mackie also studied glass sponges with Sally Leys. They found that these sponges can send electrical signals all over their bodies. These signals help control tiny hair-like structures called flagella. The flagella create currents that help the sponge feed. This showed that even simple animals like sponges have complex ways of communicating inside their bodies.