William Elgin Swinton

{{Short description|Scottish paleontologist}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} Dr '''William Elgin Swinton''' [[FRSE]] [[Linnean Society|FLS]] (30 September 1900 in [[Kirkcaldy]] – 12 June 1994 in [[Toronto]]), was a Scottish [[paleontologist]].

==Life== William Swinton was born in [[Kirkcaldy]] in [[Fife]], the son of William Wilson Swinton, a [[clerk]], and Rachel Cargill; he had one sibling, his younger sister Mary.<ref>[http://www.swintonfamilysociety.org/web%20charts%20Jan%202005/Swint%20Ch.05-7/SWINTON_Ch07-1.pdf Swinton genealogy chart at the Swinton family website, www.swintonfamilysociety.org]</ref> He received his secondary education in [[Dundee]] and [[Glenalmond College]]. From 1917, he studied Sciences at the [[University of Glasgow]], graduating BSc in 1922. In 1920, he partook in an expedition to [[Spitsbergen]]. Between 1922 and 1924, he was an assistant at the geology department of the [[Natural History Museum, London|British Museum (Natural History)]] in [[London]]. Subsequently, Swinton was appointed as a [[curator]] of fossil [[amphibians]], [[reptiles]] and [[birds]]. In 1933, he received his first doctorate ([[Ph.D]]) from the University of Glasgow.

In 1932 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. His proposers were [[Douglas Alexander Allan]], Robert Campbell, [[Herbert Harold Read]] and [[Thomas Matthew Finlay]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=14 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He enlisted in the [[Royal Navy]] in 1937, and served during the entire [[World War II|Second World War]] with Navy intelligence, eventually reaching the rank of [[Lieutenant commander]]. In the late 1950s he joined an expedition to climb [[Mount Everest]], but he failed to reach the summit. He received the Darwin Medal from the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|USSR Academy of Sciences]] in 1959. Two years later, he emigrated to Canada to take up a post in [[Toronto]].

==Career at the British Museum (Natural History)== At the museum, Swinton was responsible for writing a large number of museum guides and books; the latter mainly popularizing works about paleontology. One of his most famous works was ''The Dinosaurs'' from 1934.<ref>Alan Charig (1994) [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor-william-swinton-1425671.html Obituary: Professor William Swinton], ''The Independent'' 28 June 1994.</ref> These books were translated into many languages, making him influential in determining the public perception of [[dinosaurs]] in the middle of the twentieth century. However, his ideas on dinosaur anatomy, ecology and systematics were already old-fashioned in the 1930s, while his evolutionary concepts were formed during [[the eclipse of Darwinism]]. These problems became worse as the books were being reprinted for decades.

==Career in Canada== Swinton left the BMNH in 1961, to accept a post as [[professor]] of [[zoology]] at the [[University of Toronto]], [[Canada]].<ref>{{Cite book |last= International Palaeontological Union (I.P.U.) |year= 1968 |editor-last= Westermann |editor-first= G.E.G.|title= Directory of Palaeontologists of the World (excl. Soviet Union & continental China) |edition= 2|publisher=McMaster University |publication-place=Hamilton, Ontario |page=112 |url=https://archive.org/stream/ERIC_ED030579#page/n127/mode/2up|via=Internet Archive |access-date= 13 January 2017}}</ref> He combined this post with the directorship of the department of biology at the [[Royal Ontario Museum]], and was soon appointed a [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada]]. In 1963, he became overall director of the [[Royal Ontario Museum]]. Under his directorship, the museum gained both in public attendance and scientific prestige.<ref>Chris McGowan & Anita McConnell, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55771 "Swinton, William Elgin (1900–1994)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 15 Nov 2013</ref> His last appointment, until 1979, was as an extraordinary professor at [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]].

He died in Toronto in 1994, 93 years old. Swinton remained unmarried and had no children.

== Publications == * ''Monsters of Primeval Days'' (1931) * ''The Dinosaurs: a short history of a great group of extinct reptiles'' (1934)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/dinosaurs00swin W.E. Swinton, ''The Dinosaurs'' (1934) at Internet Archive]</ref> * ''A Guide to the Fossil Birds'' (1934) * ''The Science of Living Things'' (1935) * ''The Corridor of Life'' (1948) * ''The Wonderful World of Prehistoric Animals'' (1952) * ''Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles'' (1954; 1958) * ''Fossil Birds'' (1958; 1965; British Museum (Natural History) Publication)- illustrated by Maurice Wilson * ''The Story of Prehistoric Animals'' (1961)- illustrated by Maurice Wilson * ''Digging for Dinosaurs'' (1962) * ''Dinosaurs'' (1962; 1964; 1967; 1969; 1974; British Museum (Natural History) Publication)- illustrated by [[Neave Parker]] * ''Dinosaurs of Canada'' (1965) * ''Giants: Past and Present'' (1966) * ''The Dinosaurs'' (1970)- illustrated by [[Neave Parker]]

== Literature == *[[Alan Charig]] (1994) [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor-william-swinton-1425671.html "Obituary: Professor William Swinton"], ''The Independent'' 28 June 1994. Accessed 15 Nov 2013. *R. Cocks, "William Elgin Swinton, 1900–1994", ''Museums Journal'', '''94''' (Aug 1994), 42. *Chris McGowan & Anita McConnell, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55771 "Swinton, William Elgin (1900–1994)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 15 Nov 2013. *Wolfgang Saxon (1994). [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/17/obituaries/w-e-swinton-93-dinosaur-authority-wrote-textbooks.html "W. E. Swinton, 93; Dinosaur Authority Wrote Textbooks"], ''New York Times'' 17 June 1994. Accessed 15 Nov 2013.

== References ==

[[Category:British palaeontologists]] [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1994 deaths]] [[Category:People from Kirkcaldy]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]] [[Category:Employees of the Natural History Museum, London]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada]] [[Category:fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Scottish palaeontologists]] [[Category:Scottish taxonomists]] [[Category:People educated at Glenalmond College]]