Thomas Huxley
<p ><b>Thomas Henry Huxley</b> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Counsellor_(UK)" title="Privy Counsellor (UK)" class="mw-redirect" >PC</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society" title="Fellow of the Royal Society" class="mw-redirect" >FRS</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Linnean_Society_of_London" title="Fellow of the Linnean Society of London" class="mw-redirect" >FLS</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ˈ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >h</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ʌ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >k</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >s</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >l</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >i</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a>; 4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people" title="English people" >English</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologist" title="Biologist" >biologist</a> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_anatomist" title="Comparative anatomist" class="mw-redirect" >comparative anatomist</a>), known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin" title="Charles Darwin" >Charles Darwin</a>'s theory of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution" >evolution</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup>
Huxley's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Oxford_evolution_debate" title="1860 Oxford evolution debate" >famous debate in 1860</a> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Wilberforce" title="Samuel Wilberforce" >Samuel Wilberforce</a> was a key moment in the wider acceptance of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution" >evolution</a> and in his own career. Huxley had been planning to leave <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford" title="Oxford" >Oxford</a> on the previous day, but, after an encounter with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Chambers_(journalist)" title="Robert Chambers (journalist)" class="mw-redirect" >Robert Chambers</a>, the author of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestiges_of_the_Natural_History_of_Creation" title="Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" >Vestiges</a></i>, he changed his mind and decided to join the debate. Wilberforce was coached by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Owen" title="Richard Owen" >Richard Owen</a>, against whom Huxley also debated about whether humans were closely related to apes.
Huxley was slow to accept some of Darwin's ideas, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradualism" title="Gradualism" >gradualism</a>, and was undecided about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection" title="Natural selection" >natural selection</a>, but despite this he was wholehearted in his public support of Darwin. Instrumental in developing scientific <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" title="Education" >education</a> in Britain, he fought against the more extreme versions of religious tradition.
In 1869 Huxley coined the term '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic" title="Agnostic" class="mw-redirect" >agnostic</a>' describing his own views on theology, a term whose use has continued to the present day (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley_and_agnosticism" title="Thomas Henry Huxley and agnosticism" class="mw-redirect" >Thomas Henry Huxley and agnosticism</a>).<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup>
Huxley had little formal schooling and was virtually self-taught. He became perhaps the finest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_anatomy" title="Comparative anatomy" >comparative anatomist</a> of the latter 19th century.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup> He worked on<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invertebrates" title="Invertebrates" class="mw-redirect" >invertebrates</a>, clarifying relationships between groups previously little understood. Later, he worked on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebrates" title="Vertebrates" class="mw-redirect" >vertebrates</a>, especially on the relationship between apes and humans. After comparing <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx" title="Archaeopteryx" >Archaeopteryx</a></i> with <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compsognathus" title="Compsognathus" >Compsognathus</a></i>, he concluded that<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_birds" title="Evolution of birds" >birds</a> evolved from small carnivorous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theropoda" title="Theropoda" >dinosaurs</a>, a theory widely accepted today.
The tendency has been for this fine anatomical work to be overshadowed by his energetic and controversial activity in favour of evolution, and by his extensive public work on scientific education, both of which had significant effects on society in Britain and elsewhere.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup></p>