25 Facts About Thomas Cavalier-Smith

Thomas Cavalier-Smith, FRS, FRSC, NERC Professorial Fellow, was a professor of evolutionary biology in the Department of Zoology, at the University of Oxford.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith's research has led to discovery of a number of unicellular organisms and advocated for a variety of major taxonomic groups, such as the Chromista, Chromalveolata, Opisthokonta, Rhizaria, and Excavata.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was known for his systems of classification of all organisms.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith's parents were Mary Maude and Alan Hailes Spencer Cavalier Smith.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was educated at Norwich School, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in Biology and King's College London in Zoology.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was under the supervision of Sir John Randall for his PhD thesis between 1964 and 1967; his thesis was entitled "Organelle Development in Chlamydomonas reinhardii".

From 1967 to 1969, Cavalier-Smith was a guest investigator at Rockefeller University.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith became Lecturer of biophysics at King's College London in 1969.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was prolific, drawing on a near-unparalleled wealth of information to suggest novel relationships.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was a prolific taxonomist, drawing on a near-unparalleled wealth of information to suggest novel relationships.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith's suggestions were translated into taxonomic concepts and classifications with which he associated new names, or in some cases, reused old names.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith did not follow or espouse an explicit taxonomic philosophy but his approach was closest to evolutionary taxonomy.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith's approach was not universally accepted: Others attempted to underpin taxonomy of protists with a nested series of atomised, falsifiable propositions, following the philosophy of transformed cladistics.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was courageous in his adherence to the earlier traditionalist style characterized by Charles Darwin, that of relying on narratives.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith reused familiar names for innovative taxonomic concepts.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith has a tendency to make pronouncements where others would use declarative sentences, to use declarative sentences where others would express an opinion, and to express opinions where angels would fear to tread.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith wrote extensively on the taxonomy and classification of all life forms, but especially protists.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith introduced new taxonomic groupings group for eukaryotes such as the Chromalveolata, Opisthokonta, Rhizaria, and Excavata.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith assigned some former members of the kingdom Archezoa to the phylum Amoebozoa.

Five of Thomas Cavalier-Smith's kingdoms are classified as eukaryotes as shown in the following scheme:.

In 2006, Thomas Cavalier-Smith proposed that the last universal common ancestor to all life was a non-flagellate Gram-negative bacterium with two membranes.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1980, the Institute of Biology in 1983, the Royal Society of Arts in 1987, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in 1988, the Royal Society of Canada in 1997, and the Royal Society of London in 1998.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith received the International Prize for Biology from the Emperor of Japan in 2004, and the Linnean Medal for Zoology in 2007.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith was appointed Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research between 1998 and 2007, and Advisor of the Integrated Microbial Biodiversity of CIFAR.

Thomas Cavalier-Smith won the 2007 Frink Medal of the Zoological Society of London.