| 1 | Name: | Dr. Richard D. Keynes | |
| Institution: | University of Cambridge | ||
| Year Elected: | 1977 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 206. Physiology, Biophysics, and Pharmacology | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1919 | ||
| Death Date: | June 12, 2010 | ||
Richard Darwin Keynes' scientific career has been devoted mainly to research on the physiology, biophysics, and molecular biology of nerve conduction. In 1951 he was invited to work in Rio de Janeiro, where he helped to show, for the first time, how the electric eel generates its additive discharge, and where he acquired a strong interest in South America. This interest would have important consequences for him. In 1968 a chance discovery in Buenos Aires of a collection of drawings made aboard the Beagle by artist Conrad Martens set him to work on the history of Charles Darwin's voyage with Captain Robert FitzRoy to South America and back around the world via the Galapagos Islands. This led Dr. Keynes first to write The Beagle Record, then to produce a new edition of Darwin's classical account of his travels entitled The Beagle Diary, and most recently to transcribe Charles Darwin's Zoology Notes & Specimen Lists from H.M.S. Beagle, which was published for the first time in 2000. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Dr. Keynes was Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1959 and to the American Philosophical Society in 1977. Dr. Keynes died on June 12, 2010, at the age of 90. | |||