| 1 | Name: | Sir Patrick Bateson | |
| Institution: | University of Cambridge | ||
| Year Elected: | 2006 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1938 | ||
| Death Date: | August 1, 2017 | ||
Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, FRS, was Emeritus Professor of Ethology, the biological study of behaviour, at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death on August 1, 2017, at the age of 79. He was Provost (Head) of King's College, Cambridge from 1988 to 2003. He was formerly Director of the Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour at Cambridge and later Head of the Department of Zoology. He was Vice-Chairman of the Museums and Galleries Commission and in 2004 was elected President of the Zoological Society of London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1983 and was its Biological Secretary and Vice-President from 1998 to 2003. He was knighted in 2003. His research is on the behavioural development of animals, and much of his scientific career has been concerned with bridging the gap between the studies of behaviour and those of underlying mechanisms, focusing on the process of behavioural imprinting in birds. He has also been concerned to link together studies of development and evolution. In addition to his work on birds he has carried out research on behavioural development in mammals, particularly cats, and has supervised field projects on mammals in East Africa. He conducted a research project for the National Trust on the behavioural and physiological effects of hunting red deer with hounds. He has written more than 260 scientific papers and book chapters on behavioural imprinting in birds, the development of play in cats, the development and evolution of behaviour, neural mechanisms of learning, and the conceptual and methodological issues in the study of behaviour and animal welfare. He has also written articles on co-operation, the ethics of using animals in research, and the hunting of red deer with hounds. He has edited 15 books and is co-author (with Paul Martin) of Measuring Behaviour and Design for a Life: How Behaviour Develops. | |||