Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–82)

Scottish naturalist and oceanographer. Professor of mineralogy and geology, Queen’s College, Belfast, 1854–62; of natural history from 1862. Professor of botany, Royal College of Science, Dublin, 1868–70. Appointed regius professor of natural history, University of Edinburgh, 1870. Interested in deep-sea researches; appointed chief of the civilian scientific staff of the Challenger expedition, 1872–6. Knighted, 1877. FRS 1869.