Lancelot Thomas Hogben, 9 December 1895 - 22 August 1975

Abstract

Hogben was a brilliant biologist, a stimulating and indefatigable teacher, and a famous writer. More essentially, he was a dedicated socialist or scientific humanist— he used the former label in his youth and the latter in his maturity but the faith remained the same (1918a, 1939b). Professor Michael Abercrombie, who was in his Department at Birmingham, described him to me as a very moral man and Dr Sidney Truelove, his second-in-command at the War Office, as a puritan; not that he was particularly chaste or sober; they meant that he lived in strict conformity to his declared ethical creed.