Sir Arthur Smith Woodward (23 May 1864 – 2 September 1944) was an English palaeontologist.

Biography

Woodward was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England and was educated there and at Owens College, Manchester. He joined the staff of the Department of Geology at the Natural History Museum in 1882. He became assistant Keeper of Geology in 1892, and Keeper in 1901. He was appointed Secretary of the Palaeontographical Society and in 1904, was appointedPresident of the Geological Society.

He was the world expert on fossil fish, writing his Catalogue of the Fossil Fishes in the British Museum (1889-1901). His travels included journeys to South America and Greece. His contribution to paleoichthyology resulted in him receiving many awards, including a Royal Medal from the Royal Society, the Lyell and Wollaston Medals of the Geological Society, the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society and the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1914. He retired from the museum in 1924.

Woodward's reputation suffered from his involvement in the Piltdown Man hoax where he helped in the uncovering and identification of a false palaeontographical find.

References

• The Natural History Museum at South Kensington - William T. Stearn ISBN 0-434-73600-7
• Sir Arthur Smith Woodward at Minnesota State University
• The Earliest Englishman, by Sir Arthur Smith Woodward [Thinker's Library, No.127]. London: Watts & Co., 1948.