Robert Grant

Robert Grant was born in Edinburgh in 1793. He studied classics before turning to medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he became President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1812 and graduated MD in 1814. Grant undertook further study on the continent before returning to Scotland in 1820 to practise as a physician. He later devoted himself to biology, publishing extensively on corals and sponges. In 1827 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at London University, a position he held until 1874, and served as dean from 1847 to 1849. Grant was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1836 and died in London in 1874.