Richard Southwood

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Richard Southwood (20 June 1931 – 26 October 2005) was a British biologist, zoologist and entomologist who helped create the field of insect ecology and developed key methods for studying animal populations. He wrote influential books, including Ecological Methods (1966), which described ways to estimate populations and study ecosystems, and The Story of Life (2003), based on his Oxford lectures.

Early life and education
Southwood grew up near Gravesend, Kent, on a family dairy farm. He attended Gravesend Grammar School and then Imperial College London, earning a BSc in biology and an MSc in botany. He completed a PhD in zoology at Rothamsted Experimental Station. He returned to Imperial as a research assistant and lecturer, later becoming head of the zoology and applied entomology department and director of Silwood Park.

Oxford and academic career
In 1979 he moved to the University of Oxford to hold the Linacre Chair of Zoology and became a fellow of Merton College. In 1989 he became vice-chancellor of Oxford, serving until 1993, and he helped set up a working party to reform the university’s governance. After stepping down, he continued his research and teaching, and in 2003 published The Story of Life.

Public service and honours
Southwood chaired the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 1981 to 1985; its 1983 report Lead in the Environment raised public concern about lead pollution. He was chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board from 1985 to 1994 and led the government’s Working Party on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). He also headed the environmental sciences and policy department at the Central European University in Budapest (1993–1994) and contributed to the Oxford Round Table. He received numerous honours, including Knight Bachelor (1984), Grand Officer of the Order of Merit, Portugal (1993), and he was a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also earned the Linnean Medal and the Peter Scott Memorial Award, and mentored many ecologists at Silwood Park. A portrait of him hangs at Merton College, Oxford.

Family
In 1955 he married Alison Langley (née Harden). They had two sons and six grandchildren.