33 Facts About Andrew Huxley

Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley was an English physiologist and biophysicist.

Andrew Huxley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1955, and President in 1980.

Andrew Huxley was conferred a Knight Bachelor by the Queen in 1974, and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1983.

Andrew Huxley was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, until his death.

Andrew Huxley was born in Hampstead, London, England, on 22 November 1917.

Andrew Huxley was the youngest son of the writer and editor Leonard Huxley by Leonard Huxley's second wife Rosalind Bruce, and hence half-brother of the writer Aldous Huxley and fellow biologist Julian Huxley, and grandson of the biologist T H Huxley.

Andrew Huxley soon became proficient at designing, making and assembling mechanical objects of all kinds, from wooden candle sticks to a working internal combustion engine.

Andrew Huxley used these practical skills throughout his career, building much of the specialized equipment he needed for his research.

Andrew Huxley was educated at University College School and Westminster School in Central London, where he was a King's Scholar.

Andrew Huxley graduated and won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, to read natural sciences.

Andrew Huxley had intended to become an engineer but switched to physiology after taking the subject to fulfill an elective.

In 1939, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin returned from the US to take up a fellowship at Trinity College, and Andrew Huxley became one of his postgraduate students.

Andrew Huxley was recruited by the British Anti-Aircraft Command, where he worked on radar control of anti-aircraft guns.

Andrew Huxley did a few sketches, borrowed a lathe and produced the necessary parts.

Andrew Huxley was elected to a research fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1941.

Andrew Huxley was able to view muscle contraction with greater precision than conventional microscopes, and to distinguish types of fiber more easily.

Andrew Huxley synthesized his findings, and the work of colleagues, into a detailed description of muscle structure and how muscle contraction occurs and generates force that he published in 1957.

In 1953, Andrew Huxley worked at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as a Lalor Scholar.

Andrew Huxley gave the Herter Lectures at Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1959 and the Jesup Lectures at Columbia University in 1964.

Andrew Huxley was an editor of the Journal of Physiology from 1950 to 1957 and of the Journal of Molecular Biology.

Andrew Huxley held college and university posts in Cambridge until 1960, when he became head of the Department of Physiology at University College London.

In 1980, Andrew Huxley was elected as President of the Royal Society, a post he held until 1985.

Whereas T H Huxley was defying the bishops of his day, Sir Andrew was countering new theories of periods of accelerated change.

Andrew Huxley's appointment broke the tradition that the office of Master of Trinity alternates between a scientist and an arts man.

Andrew Huxley was Master until 1990 and was fond of reminding interviewers that Trinity College had more Nobel Prize winners than did the whole of France.

Andrew Huxley maintained up to his death his position as a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, teaching in physiology, natural sciences and medicine.

Andrew Huxley was a fellow of Imperial College London in 1980.

Andrew Huxley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 November 1974.

Andrew Huxley was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1975 and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1979.

Andrew Huxley was appointed to the Order of Merit on 11 November 1983.

In 1947, Huxley married Jocelyn "Richenda" Gammell, the daughter of the geneticist Michael Pease and his wife Helen Bowen Wedgwood, eldest daughter of the first Lord Wedgwood.

Andrew Huxley was survived by his six children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Andrew Huxley was mentioned in S11 E6 of Archer: "The Double Date".