Bryan Clarke | |
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| Born | Bryan Campbell Clarke (1932-06-24)24 June 1932 |
| Died | 27 February 2014(2014-02-27) (aged 81) |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA, DPhil) |
| Spouse | Ann Clarke (née Jewkes)[2] |
| Children | One daughter, Alex; one son, Peter |
| Awards | Linnean Medal (2003) Darwin-Wallace Medal (2008) Darwin Medal (2010) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics, evolutionary biology |
| Institutions | University of Nottingham University of Edinburgh |
| Thesis | Some factors affecting shell colour polymorphism in Cepaea (1961) |
| Doctoral advisor | Arthur Cain |
| Doctoral students | |
| Other notable students | Fred W. Allendorf |
Bryan Campbell ClarkeFRS[3] (24 June 1932 – 27 February 2014) was a British Professor ofgenetics, latterlyemeritus at theUniversity of Nottingham. Clarke is particularly noted for his work onapostatic selection (which is a term he coined in 1962) and other forms of frequency-dependent selection, and work onpolymorphism in snails, much of it done during the 1960s. Later, he studiedmolecular evolution. He made the case fornatural selection as an important factor in the maintenance of molecular variation, and in driving evolutionary changes in molecules through time. In doing so, he questioned the over-riding importance of randomgenetic drift advocated by King, Jukes, and Kimura. With Professor James J Murray Jnr (University of Virginia), he carried out an extensive series of studies on speciation in land snails of the genusPartula inhabiting the volcanic islands of the Eastern Pacific. These studies helped illuminate the genetic changes that take place during the origin of species.
Clarke was educated atMagdalen College, Oxford, receiving aBachelor of Arts degree in 1956[2] followed by aDoctor of Philosophy degree in 1961 from theUniversity of Oxford for research investigating factors affecting shell colourpolymorphism in the land snails (Cepaea).[4]
Clarke was appointed aLecturer at theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1959[2] and was promoted toReader by the time he left in 1971. In 1971 he became Foundation Professor at the new Department of Genetics at theUniversity of Nottingham becoming Emeritus Professor in 1997. During this period he spent two spells (1971–76, 1981–93) as Head of Department.
Clarke mentored many scientists in evolutionary genetics, supervising more than thirty research students, many of which went gone on to successful research careers themselves such asSteve Jones.[1] He was a co-founder of thePopulation Genetics Group ("PopGroup") a scientific meeting for evolutionary and population genetics held annually in the UK since the 1960s.[5]
Clarke was co-founder (with his wifeAnn and DameAnne McLaren) and trustee of theFrozen Ark project, launched in 2004 to preserve the DNA and living cells of endangered species worldwide.[6][7]
Clarke acted as managing editor of the scientific journalHeredity from 1978 to 1985.[7]
Clarke was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1982.[2] In 2003 he was both awarded theLinnean Medal for Zoology and elected a Foreign member of theAmerican Philosophical Society. In 2004 he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received one of the thirteenDarwin-Wallace Medals awarded by theLinnean Society of London in 2008; at that time the award was made only every 50 years.[8] He was awarded theDarwin Medal of the Royal Society in 2010 'for his original and influential contributions to our understanding of the genetic basis of evolution'.[9]
In 1959 he publishedBerber Village, an account of an Oxford University expedition to the High Atlas mountains of Morocco.[10]
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