Yonge, Charles Maurice (Maurice) (1899 - 1986)

Summary

Maurice Yonge was a marine zoologist renowned for his research on the adaptive radiation and evolution of bivalve molluscs. Other research, for which he was equally noted, was in invertebrate physiology, coral physiology, and gastropod and bivalve filter-feeding. His first visit to Australia was a leader of the Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928 - 1929, which was centred on the Low Isles. Most members of the Expedition were British: they were joined for varying periods by leading Australian scientists such as Gilbert Whitley and Tom Iredale. The success of this Expedition established Yonge's reputation as a leading marine zoologist. After his return to Britain, he was for 20 years Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow. Yonge made a number of later visits to Australia in support of other Reef expeditions. In 1975 he opened the opened the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station. Three years later he returned to the Low Isles, noting the degradation that had occurred over the previous 50 years. Yonge's personal library of several 1000 items relating to marine subjects (particularly malacology) was donated to Australian Institute of Marine Science 1982: it was transferred in 2016 to the James Cook University library. The Yonge Reef was named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1922

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Edinburgh

1922 - 1924

Career position - Baxter Natural Science Scholar, University of Edinburgh

1924

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Edinburgh

1924 - 1925

Career position - Carnegie Research Scholar

1925 - 1927

Career position - Temporary Assistant Naturalist, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, United Kingdom

1927

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Edinburgh

1927 - 1929

Career position - Balfour Student, University of Cambridge

1928 - 1929

Career position - Leader, Great Barrier Reef Expedition

1930 - 1932

Career position - Physiologist, Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, United Kingdom

1933 - 1934

Career position - Professor of Zoology, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

1944 - 1964

Career position - Regius Professor of Zoology, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

1945 - 1986

Award - Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)

1946 - 1986

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

1953 - 1956

Career position - Vice-President, Royal Society of Edinburgh

1954

Award - Companion of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

1957

Award - Makdougall-Brisbane Prize, Royal Society of Edinburgh

1961

Career position - President, Section D, British Association for the Advancement of Science

1965 - 1970

Career position - Research Fellow in Zoology, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

1967

Life event - Visited Australia to review Great Barrier Reef with Thomas Goreau

1967

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)

1968

Award - Darwin Medal, Royal Society of London

1969 - 1970

Career position - Vice-President, Royal Society of Edinburgh

1970 - 1973

Career position - President, Royal Society of Edinburgh

1971

Award - Honorary doctorate, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

1973

Life event - Visited Australia in support of the Royal Society and University of Queensland expedition to the Reef

1975

Life event - Opened the Australian Museum's Lizard Island Research Station

1978

Life event - Revisited the Low Isles Reef

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Yonge, C. M., Origins, organization and scope of the Expedition (London: British Museum (Natural History), 1930), 11 pp. Details
• Yonge, C. M., A year on the Great Barrier Reef: the story of corals and of the greatest of their creations (London: Putnam, 1930), 246 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Allen, J. A., 'Sir Maurice Yonge C.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S., P.P.R.S.E. 1899 - 1986' in The Bivalvia: proceedings of a memorial symposium in honour of Sir Maurice Yonge, Edinburgh, 1986, Morton, B., ed. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1990), pp. 5-8. Details

Journal Articles

• Heppell, D., 'C. M. Yonge: a chronological list of publications', Asian marine biology, 3 (1986), 9-31. Details
• Morton, B., 'Obituary : Sir Charles Maurice Yonge: 9 December 1899 - 17 March 1986', Asian marine biology, 3 (1986), 1-7. Details
• Morton, B., 'Charles Maurice Yonge 9 December 1899 - 17 March 1986: elected F.R.S. 1946', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 38 (1992), 379-412. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1992.0020. Details
• Morton, Brian, 'Charles Maurice Yonge (1899 - 1986)', Archives of natural history, 25 (3) (1998), 431-48. Details
• Spencer, Tom; Brown, Barbara E.; Hamylton, Sarah M.; and McLean, Roger F., '"A close and friendly alliance": biology, geology and the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928 - 1929', Oceanography and marine biology: an annual review, 59 (2021), 89-138. Details
• Yonge, C. M., 'The marine biological laboratory at Low Isles, N. Queensland', ICES journal of marine science, 6 (3) (1931), 459-62. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/6.3.459. Details

Resources

• Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society [Online resource], Royal Society of London, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1992.0020. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2959779. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/4991735. Details
• Sir Charles Maurice Yonge Collection, James Cook University Library, 2018. https://www.jcu.edu.au/library/specials/sir-charles-maurice-yonge-collection. Details
• 'Yonge, C M (1899-1986)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1019244. Details