Sir Patrick GeddesDied 17 Apr 1932 at age 77 (born 2 Oct 1854).Scottish biologist and sociologist who was one of the modern pioneers of the concept of town and regional planning. He studied under Darwin's champion, Thomas Henry Huxley. As a professor of botany, Geddes emphasized the development of sexual reproduction as a major step in organic evolution and, with the naturalist John Arthur Thomson, published The Evolution of Sex (1889). Geddes turned his attention to sociology after an attack of blindness in Mexico hampered his biological experimentation. His researches in India, Palestine, Mexico, and Scotland led to his conviction that the development of human communities was primarily biological in nature, consisting of interactions among people, their environment, and their activities. |
