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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Huxley
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English family of great distinction in science and literature. T.H. Huxley (Thomas Henry Huxley, 1825–95) first established himself with his studies of surface life in tropical seas, carried out as a sideline when he was in southeast Asia as naval surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake. He became the chief champion of the evolutionary theories of Charles *Darwin, fighting for the cause with such persistence that he became known as Darwin's bulldog. In his later years he campaigned against what he considered the untenable claims of religion, coining the excellent word 'agnostic' (from the Greek for 'unknowing') for the viewpoint that neither the existence nor the non-existence of God can be known on any rational basis.
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His son Leonard (1860–1933) was a biographer and was himself father of three distinguished sons. Julian (1887–1975, kt 1958) was a zoologist who did pioneer work in the scientific study of animal behaviour and, like his grandfather, made evolution a speciality; he was an excellent popularizer of science, and was known to a wide public during World War II as a member of the *Brains Trust; in 1946 he became the first director-general of UNESCO. Andrew (b. 1917, kt 1974) is a physiologist specializing in the study of nerve impulses and muscle contraction; he shared a Nobel prize with others in this field in 1963, and is a member of the Order of *Merit.
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Aldous (1894–1963), an author, mocked his contemporaries in a series of brilliant and cynical novels from Crome Yellow (1921) to Point Counter Point (1928). But his best-known work, *Brave New World (1928), was more savagely pessimistic. In later life he became a controversial early advocate of the liberating power of drugs – describing his experiments with mescalin and LSD in The Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956).
Andrew (b. 1917, kt 1974) is a physiologist specializing in the study of nerve impulses and muscle contraction; he shared a Nobel prize with others in this field in 1963, and is a member of the Order of *Merit.
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