Solly Zuckerman

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Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman OM KCB FRS (May 30, 1904 - April 1, 1993) was a UK public servant, zoologist, and scientific advisor.

He was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Zuckerman began his career at the London Zoological Society in 1928, and worked as a research anatomist until 1932.

During World War II, he performed several research projects for the British government including the impact of bombing on people and buildings and an assessment of the bombardment (Operation Corkscrew) of the Italian island of Pantellaria in 1943. After the war Zuckerman was professor of anatomy at Birmingham University (1946-68). Sir Solly was chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence in 1960, and subsequently chief scientific adviser to the British government (1964 to 1971).

Zuckerman was against the developments of the nuclear arms race. This opposition began with his experience during World War II. He taught at 3 different universities:

Oxford (1934-1945)
Birmingham (1946-1968)
University of East Anglia (1969-1974).

He also served as the secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 1955 to 1977 and as its President from 1977 to 1984.

Some of his achievements include becoming a pioneer in the study of primate behaviour. He is also credited for making science a normal part of government policy in the Western world.

His more notable publications include The Social Life of Monkeys and Apes published in 1931, and Scientists and War in 1966. Zuckerman wrote two volumes of autobiography: From Apes to Warlords and Monkeys Men and Missiles. He was awarded a life peerage as Baron Zuckerman, of Burnham Thorpe in the County of Norfolk in 1971.