Thomas Henry Huxley was born on 4 May 1825 in Ealing, England. He received a scholarship to Charing Cross Hospital in 1842.
In 1845, Thomas Henry Huxley started a Bachelor of Medicine degree. He published his first scientific paper on his discovery of a human hair-root membrane, “Huxley’s layer”
Thomas Henry Huxley joined the Royal Navy as a ship’s surgeon and was assigned to the H.M.S. Rattlesnake from 1846 to 1850. He spent his own time studying natural history.
On May 4th 1847, the H.M.S. Rattlesnake docked in Mauritius for a stopover of twelve days, Thomas Henry Huxley visited Port Louis, Pamplemousses and the Botanic Garden. In a letter to his mother, he described ‘the island as pleasant, multicultural and “a complete paradise”.
In 1849, the Royal Society of London published Thomas Henry Huxley’s paper “On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the Family of the Medusae.” The work gained notoriety within the British scientific community, and the Royal Society of London elected Thomas Huxley to fellowship in 1850.
In 1852, Thomas Henry Huxley was the youngest person to receive the Royal Society’s Gold Medal. In 1853, he published “The Cell-Theory”. In 1854 he worked as professor of natural history at the Royal School of Mines and became Curator of Fossils in the Museum of Practical Geology in London. He received a Fullerian lectureship at the Royal Institution in London in 1856.
In 1859, Thomas Henry Huxley reviewed the On the Origin of Species; by Charles Darwin in the London Times. He publicly championed and supported Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Thomas Henry Huxley’s advocacy garnered him the epithet Darwin’s Bulldog.
In 1863, Thomas Henry Huxley became Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and he published his first book, “Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature”
In 1868, Thomas Henry Huxley became head of the South London Working Men’s College, which offered educational opportunities for working class families. Thomas Henry Huxley also worked to integrate laboratory practices into science classrooms, and he created training courses for teachers.
In 1871, Thomas Henry Huxley became secretary of the Royal Society. Over the next few years, he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and he was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Thomas Henry Huxley was elected President of the Royal Society in 1883.
In 1888, Thomas Henry Huxley was elected a trustee of the British Museum, and he received the Royal Society Copley Medal. In 1892, he became Privy Councillor, an advisor on affairs of state, and in 1894 the Royal Society awarded Huxley the Darwin Medal.
Thomas Henry Huxley passed away on 29 June 1895 at the age of seventy.