Lancelot Hogben facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lancelot Thomas Hogben
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| Born | 9 December 1895 |
| Died | 22 August 1975 (aged 79) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | experimental zoologist, medical statistician |
Lancelot Thomas Hogben (born December 9, 1895 – died August 22, 1975) was a smart British scientist. He studied animals and also worked with medical numbers. Lancelot Hogben was known for three main things. First, he helped make the African clawed frog a key animal for science studies. Second, he strongly disagreed with the idea of eugenics. This was a belief that some people were naturally better than others. Third, he wrote many popular books about science, math, and languages.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Lancelot Hogben grew up in Southsea, near Portsmouth, England. His family were Methodists. In 1907, his family moved to Stoke Newington in London. He went to Tottenham County School there. Later, he studied physiology (how living things work) at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Before going to Cambridge, he earned a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1914. He got his Cambridge degree in 1915. Lancelot believed strongly in socialism, which is about fairness for everyone. He even changed the name of his university's Fabian Society to Socialist Society. He later called himself a 'scientific humanist'. This means he believed in using science to help humanity.
During the First World War, Lancelot was a pacifist. This means he believed war was wrong and refused to fight. He joined the Quakers, a group known for peace. He worked with the Red Cross in France for six months. He helped people affected by the war.
When he returned to Cambridge, he was put in prison. This was because he refused to fight in the war. He was a conscientious objector. His health became very bad, and he was released in 1917. His brother, George, also refused to fight.
A Career in Science
After getting better, Lancelot taught at universities in London. In 1921, he earned his Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree in Zoology. In 1922, he moved to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He worked in a department that studied animal breeding.
In 1923, Lancelot helped start the Society for Experimental Biology. He also helped create its science magazine. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This is a special honor for scientists. He won the Society's Keith Prize for his work.
Frog Research and Discoveries
In 1927, Lancelot became a professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He studied endocrinology, which is about hormones. He focused on the African clawed frog (called Xenopus). He noticed that the frog's color changed based on its surroundings. Frogs in the wild were brownish-green. Frogs raised in the dark became black. Those in light places became light-colored.
Lancelot thought the frog's color changes were linked to its pituitary gland. This is a small gland in the brain. When he removed the gland, the frogs turned white. This happened no matter their environment.
He then tried injecting the frogs with a substance from an ox. He wanted to see if it would help their color. He noticed something amazing! Female Xenopus frogs laid eggs within hours of the injection. This was a big surprise.
Lancelot realized he had found a way to test for human pregnancy. He knew the ox substance was like a hormone called HCG. This hormone is found in pregnant women. He confirmed that if he injected female Xenopus frogs with urine from a pregnant woman, they would lay eggs quickly.
Lancelot liked his job in South Africa. But he did not like the country's unfair rules about race. So, he decided to leave.
Developing the Pregnancy Test
In 1930, Lancelot moved to the London School of Economics. He continued to work on his pregnancy test. Before his test, other pregnancy tests took days. They also often harmed mice or rabbits. Lancelot's test took only hours. It did not hurt the frogs, and they could be used again.
His pregnancy test became very popular around the world. It was the main test used from the mid-1930s through the 1940s.
Later, Lancelot became a professor at the University of Aberdeen in 1937. During World War II, he helped with medical statistics for the British Army. He also taught at the University of Birmingham. In 1963, he became the first head of the University of Guyana.
Views on Nature and Nurture
While at the London School of Economics, Lancelot strongly spoke out against the eugenics movement. This movement believed that a person's abilities came only from their genes (nature). They thought some people were born "better" than others.
Lancelot disagreed. He said that both genes (nature) and environment (nurture) are important. He showed that they work together. This idea is called 'gene-environment interaction'. It means that how a person develops depends on both their genes and their experiences. Lancelot's ideas helped change how scientists thought about these things.
Writing Popular Science Books
Lancelot wanted to make science and math easy for everyone to understand. He was inspired by a book called The Outline of History. He wrote two very successful books: Mathematics for the Million (1936) and Science for the Citizen (1938).
Mathematics for the Million was highly praised. Famous people like H. G. Wells and Albert Einstein loved it. The book was reprinted many times. Lancelot also became interested in languages. He helped edit a book called The Loom of Language. He even created his own international language, called Interglossa. He hoped it would help people from different countries communicate better.
Personal Life
In 1918, Lancelot married Enid Charles. She was a mathematician and also believed in fairness for all. They had two sons and two daughters. Lancelot learned the Welsh language.
In the 1950s, Lancelot moved to a cottage in north Wales. He later married Mary Jane Roberts in 1957. He passed away in 1975 at the age of 79.
Awards and Legacy
Lancelot Hogben received the Neill Prize and a gold medal for his work. In 1936, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
Lancelot's work had a lasting impact. The African clawed frog is still a very important animal for biological research today. His idea that nature and nurture work together is also still very important. Scientists continue to study how genes and environment interact. This helps us understand how living things develop.
The Hogben Archive
Lancelot Hogben's papers and writings are kept at the University of Birmingham. These include drafts of his autobiography, letters, and drawings for his books. They help us learn more about his life and work.
Works by Lancelot Hogben
- A Short Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (1918)
- Exiles of the Snow, and Other Poems (1918)
- An Introduction to Recent Advances in Comparative Physiology (1924)
- The Pigmentary Effector System (1924)
- Comparative Physiology (1926)
- Comparative Physiology of Internal Secretion (1927)
- The Nature of Living Matter (1930)
- Genetic Principles in Medical and Social Science (1931)
- Nature or Nurture (1933)
- Mathematics for the Million (1936)
- The Retreat from Reason (1936)
- Science for the Citizen (1938)
- Political Arithmetic: A Symposium of Population Studies (1938) editor
- Dangerous Thoughts (1939)
- Author in Transit (1940)
- Principles of Animal Biology (1940)
- Interglossa: A Draft of an Auxiliary for a Democratic world order (1943)
- The Loom of Language: A Guide To Foreign Languages For The Home Student by Frederick Bodmer (1944), edited by Hogben
- An Introduction to Mathematical Genetics (1946)
- History of the Homeland: The Story of the British Background by Henry Hamilton (1947), edited by Hogben
- The New Authoritarianism (1949)
- From Cave Painting To Comic Strip (1949)
- Chance and Choice by Cardpack and Chessboard (1950)
- Man Must Measure: The Wonderful World of Mathematics (1955)
- Statistical theory (1957)
- The Wonderful World Of Energy (1957)
- The Signs of Civilisation (1959)
- The Wonderful World of Communication (1959)
- Mathematics in the Making (1960)
- Essential World English (1963)
- Science in Authority: Essays (1963)
- The Mother Tongue (1964)
- Whales for the Welsh (1967)
- Beginnings and Blunders or Before Science Began (1970)
- The Vocabulary Of Science (1970)
- Astronomer Priest and Ancient Mariner (1972)
- Maps, Mirrors and Mechanics (1973)
- Columbus, the Cannon Ball and the Common Pump (1974)
- How The World Was Explored, editor
- Lancelot Hogben: scientific humanist: an unauthorised autobiography (1998)
Images for kids
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Lancelot Thomas Hogben
See also
- Leslie Hogben, granddaughter of Lancelot
