Biological Sciences
Institutional records and personal papers for major figures in biology, including Sir Kenneth Murray, Lady Noreen Murray, and Martin Rivers Pollock.
Marine Biology
The Challenger Expedition of 1872-1876 was the first great voyage of oceanographical exploration, scientifically supervised by Charles Wyville Thomson, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University. The Papers include drawings, engravings, lithographs, and photographs of marine life forms and of expedition equipment, photographs of staff, and statistical materials.
Edinburgh graduate Sir John Graham Dalyell (1775-1851) made a number of outstanding contributions to marine biology. The papers include notebooks recording observations and experiments, or containing extracts from records. There are also many of Dalyell's original drawings.
Zoologist Charles Wyville Thomson (1830-1882) was Chief Scientist on the Challenger Expedition (1872-1876) and Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University from 1870 to 1882. His papers consist of private and personal correspondence. See also here for further Thomson-related materials including notes taken down from his lectures.
Molecular Biology
Sir Kenneth Murray (1930-2013) was Professor of Molecular Biology at Edinburgh University from 1976 to 1998. He and his wife Lady Noreen Murray are known for their work developing a vaccine against hepatitis B using gene-cloning technology. His papers include laboratory notebooks, research data, diaries, lecture notes, and correspondence.
Lady Noreen Murray (1935-2011) joined Edinburgh University's Department of Molecular Biology in 1968 and was awarded a personal chair in Molecular Genetics in 1988. Her papers include research papers, notebooks, and correspondence with students, colleagues, societies, and institutions.
Martin Rivers Pollock (1914-1999) was Professor of Biology at Edinburgh University from 1965 to 1976. He was instrumental in the creation of the university's Department of Molecular Biology, the first such teaching department in the world. His papers include research notes; manuscripts of publications, lectures, and broadcasts; records of his work with the Medical Research Council and other societies and organizations; correspondence; and personal materials.
Other Resources
Note too that some subjects historically taught within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, including Animal Genetics, currently fall within the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine. For links to our rich archival holdings in Animal Genetics, see the resource below: