Professor Sir Eric Denton was one of the most distinguished marine biologists of the past century. A graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge, Denton’s early career included posts at TRE (the radar research establishment at Malvern), at the biophysics research unit, University College London, and as lecturer in physiology at Aberdeen. In 1956 he began an illustrious career at the Marine Biological Laboratory on Plymouth Hoe. He was first a staff physiologist, then a Royal Society research professor seconded from Bristol until 1974, and director of the laboratory from 1974 to 1987 – attracting visitors such as Sir Alan Hodgkin, Sir Andrew Huxley and Professor Richard Keynes. He continued at the laboratory as a research fellow until 2005. The scope of his work was notable: from buoyancy, to eyes and vision, photophores, camouflage and intraspecific signalling. He received many honours, from the Royal Society’s Royal Medal to the International Prize for Biology from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

PDF Obituary 1