Sir John Lubbock FRS, later Lord Avebury, is frequently noted for his close relationship with Charles Darwin and his friendship with other better-remembered contemporaries, such as his X-Club compatriots T. H. Huxley and J. D. Hooker. However, in recent years there has been increasing interest in Lubbock in his own right. Lubbock was one of the last gentlemen scientists and a great populariser of science. His popular science works on entomology, zoology and natural history went through several reprints and he was praised as an author for a general audience as well as honoured as a man of science – evident in his election to Fellowship of scientific societies, and his roles as President of the British Association and Linnean Society and Vice-President of the Royal Society.
However, Lubbock was not a professional scientist, and his scientific achievements were coupled with social and political triumphs. He was a banker and a politician, and the Ancient Monuments Acts of 1882 and 1901 were his work, as were the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and some 30 other bills.
This interdisciplinary conference will commemorate the centenary of his death in 2013 and provide a showcase for the rising interest in this oft-forgot figure of Victorian science by examining Lubbock’s work and his influence over a range of areas and disciplines.
For more information including a full programme and speaker biographies go to:http://royalsociety.org/events/2013/aveburys-circle/
The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London
22nd March 2013
