G. Evelyn Hutchinson in South Africa, 1926 to 1928

Abstract

As a scientific discipline in South Africa, limnology has enjoyed a lower status and profile among both the academic community and the general public than has, for example, mammal research, palaeoanthropology, or ecology. Despite the fundamental importance of freshwater systems to the country's environmental health, sustainability and resilience, overviews of South African science either mention limnology briefly, or not at all. It is therefore not well known that George Evelyn Hutchinson (1903–1991) – one of the most renowned 20th-century limnologists and a man responsible for introducing many of the crucial ideas in modern ecology that emanated from his limnological study – spent two years in South Africa (1926–1928). At the time, he was employed by the University of the Witwatersrand, but he was fired as a Senior Lecturer by Zoology Professor Harold B. Fantham. However, encouraged by Lancelot T. Hogben, Professor of Zoology at the University of Cape Town, Hutchinson and his first wife, Grace Evelyn Pickford (1902–1986), travelled widely in the region observing, sampling and identifying life in many ponds, lakes and other water bodies. In 1928 the couple left for Yale University, where Hutchinson remained for what was to be an illustrious career. Later, Hutchinson described this South African interlude as having played ‘an immense part’ in his intellectual development and the work he did in South Africa is reflected in his four-volumeTreatise on Limnology,published in 1957, 1967, 1975 and 1993. Situated within the broader context of Hutchinson's life and work, the aim of this article is to examine the connections between Hutchinson and South Africa that are of particular significance to historians of science and scientists in the region.

Keywords:

• George Evelyn Hutchinson
• limnology
• ecology
• history of science
• South Africa