Wilson, James Thomas (1861 - 1945)

Summary

James Wilson was a distinguished anatomist who arrived in Australia in 1887 to take up a position of demonstrator in the University of Sydney's new medical school. Within three years he became Challis Professor of Anatomy, a position he held for 30 years. As Professor he founded a school based of the teaching of anatomy as a biological science, with emphasis on dissection and laboratory techniques, and the use of a museum of practical teaching aids. He established an undergraduate course in neuroanatomy, and encouraged postgraduate neurological research. Wilson worked closely with other anatomists on pioneering and authoritative studies of Australian fauna: the embryology of platypus (with James P. Hill), the snout of platypus (with Charles Martin), the musculature of marsupial moles, the dentition of marsupials. Numerous papers were published from this research. Wilson's later work was on the morphology of the calamus region of the human brain. In 1920 Wilson was appointed to the chair of Anatomy at University of Cambridge, from which position he retired in 1943.

Details

Chronology

1883

Career position - Resident House Surgeon, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh

1883

Education - MB, ChM, University of Edinburgh

1884

Career position - Ship's surgeon in the Far East

1885 - 1886

Career position - Demonstrator in Anatomy, University of Edinburgh

1887

Career position - Resident Medical Officer, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

1887 - 1890

Career position - Demonstrator in Anatomy, University of Sydney

1888

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1890 - 1920

Career position - Challis Professor of Anatomy, University of Sydney

1893 - 1900

Career position - Member of Council, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1895

Career position - Chairman, Professorial Board, University of Sydney

1897 - 1899

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1901 - 1902

Career position - President, Sydney University Union

1906 - 1912

Career position - Member of Council, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1908

Career position - President, Pharmacology, Anatomy and Physiology Sections, Australasian Medical Congress

1908 - 1912

Career position - Chairman, Professorial Board, University of Sydney

1909 - 1945

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1914

Career position - Local Secretary for Sydney, Section H (Anthropology), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting

1916 - 1919

Career position - Chairman, Professorial Board, University of Sydney

1916 - 1920

Career position - Fellow of the Senate, University of Sydney

1920

Career position - Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney

1920 - 1934

Career position - Professor of Anatomy, University of Cambridge

1921 - 1938

Career position - Executive councillor, Universities' Bureau of the British Empire

1922 - 1924

Career position - President, Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

1922 - 1924

Career position - President, Cambridge Philosophical Society

1926

Award - LLD honoris causa, University of Edinburgh

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• James Peter Hill - Records, 1896 - 1945, MS 055; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
• James Thomas Wilson - Records, 1883 - 1940, MS 035; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Baldwin Spencer - Records, 1880 - 1929, ML MSS 29; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

University of Sydney, Archives

• James Thomas Wilson - Records, 1815 - 1953, P 162; University of Sydney, Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Book Sections

• Morison, Patricia, 'Wilson, James Thomas (1861-1945), anatomist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 525-527. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120591b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary: James Thomas Wilson', Australian Journal of Science, 8 (2-3) (1945), 69. Details
• Geffen, Laurie and Spencer, Nick J., 'Early Australian neuroscientists and the tyranny of distance', Journal of the history of the neurosciences, 33 (1) (2024), 57-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2023.2232824. Details
• Hill, J. P., 'James Thomas Wilson, 1861 1945', Obituary notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 6 (18) (1949), 643-60. Details
• Morison, P., 'J.T. Wilson and the Fraternity of Duckmaloi', Clio-Medica (1997), 487. Details
• Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details
• Smith, S. A., 'The Life and Work of James Thomas Wilson', Bulletin of the Post-Graduate Committee in Medicine, University of Sydney, 6 (1950), 1-12. Details
• Wilson, J. T., 'Ideals in medical education', Intercolonial medical journal of Australasia, 6 (9) (1901), 405-31. Details
• Wilson, J. T., 'In memoriam: John Irvine Hunter, M.D.', Journal of anatomy London, 59 (1925), 349-54. Details
• Wilson, J. T., 'Sir Grafton Elliot Smith', Obituary notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 2 (1938), 323-33. Details
• Wilson. J. T., 'Sir Grafton Elliot Smith: a biographical sketch of his earlier career', Journal of anatomy, 66 (1936), 1-6. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6144179. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/40159622. Details
• Mellor, Lise; and Wilson, Vanessa, Wilson, James Thomas, Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive, University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2008, https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Wilson,_James_Thomas. Details
• 'Wilson, James Thomas (1861-1945)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1468185. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Wilson, James Thomas - Ms 35', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms035.html. Details

See also

• Allen, Jim, 'The curious history of the Talgai skull', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 20 (20) (2010), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha.20202. Details
• Morison, Patricia, The Martin spirit: Charles Martin and the foundation of biological science in Australia (Canberra: Halstead Press, 2019), 296 pp. Details
• Paterson, M. S., 'John Conrad Jaeger 1907-1979', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (3) (1982), 64-88. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9820530064. Details
• Young, John Atherton, Sefton, Ann Jervie and Webb, Nina eds, Centenary Book of the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1984), 568 pp. Details