Background
Vincent Wigglesworth was born on April 17, 1899, in Kirkham, Lancashire, United Kingdom. His father, Sidney Wigglesworth, was a medical doctor in general practice.
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(INSECTS PROVIDE an ideal medium in which to study all the...)
INSECTS PROVIDE an ideal medium in which to study all the problems of physiology. But if this medium is to be used to the best advantage, the principles and peculiarities of the insect's organization must be first appreciated. It is the purpose of this book to set forth these principles so far as they are understood at the present day. There exist already many excellent text-books of general ento mology; notably those of Imms, Weber, and Snodgrass, to mention only the more recent. But these authors have necessarily been preoccupied chiefly with describing the diversity of form among insects; discussions on function being correspondingly condensed. In the present work the emphasis is reversed. Struc ture is described only to an extent sufficient to make the physiological argument intelligible. Every anatomical peculiarity, every ecological specialization, has indeed its physiological counterpart. In that sense, anatomy, physiology and ecology are not separable. But regarded from the standpoint from which the present work is written, the endless modifications that are met with among insects are but illustrations of the general principles of their physiology, which it is the aim of this book to set forth. Completeness in such a work is not possible, or desirable; but an endeavour has been made to illustrate each physiological characteristic by a few concrete examples, and to include sufficient references to guide the student to the more important sources. The physiology of insects is to some the handmaid of Economic Entomology.
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(When Patrick A. Buxton was appointed by the London School...)
When Patrick A. Buxton was appointed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1926 to head their Department of Medical Entomology, he had formed the opinion that the control of the insect-borne diseases of the tropics was being impeded by lack of knowledge about the physiology of insects. He persuaded the Board of Management to agree to the selection of a lecturer who would endeavour to advance the subject of insect physiology; and at the suggestion of Sir Gowland Hopkins, under whom I had worked at Cambridge, and with the support of Sir Walter Morley Fletcher, Secretary of the Medical Research Council and a member of the Board of Management, I was appointed to this post - with opportunity for extensive travel to study medical entomology in the tropics and with abundant time for research. Some seventeen years later, during the war years, W. W. C. Topley, as Secretary of the Agricultural Research Council, was faced with the urgent need for improved methods of control of insect pests in agriculture and horticulture by insecticidal or other means. As a support for this objective he recommended the establishment of a Unit of Insect Physiology to carry out basic research which would be of potential value to agriculture; and I was invited to act as director. So once again I was able to undertake world-wide travel - to learn the elements of agricultural entomology.
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educator entomologist scientist
Vincent Wigglesworth was born on April 17, 1899, in Kirkham, Lancashire, United Kingdom. His father, Sidney Wigglesworth, was a medical doctor in general practice.
Wigglesworth attended Repton School and then Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge. He completed his graduate work in physiology and biochemistry at Cambridge, including two years as a researcher under John Burdon Sanderson Haldane and Frederick Gowland Hopkins. Wigglesworth demonstrated an aptitude for and a deep interest in basic research. In order to further his understanding of human diseases, Wiggles worth completed a medical degree at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London.
He received several honorary degrees.
Wigglesworth entered the army during World War I, and he served in the field artillery in France from 1917 to 1918.
After his return, he decided to take up the challenge, issued by Patrick Buxton, to improve the practical application of entomology by increasing the scientific knowledge of insect physiology. Most of Wigglesworth’s research at the time was on the role of insects in the transmission of human diseases; diseases such as malaria and Chagas’ disease made this issue of immediate importance but it was poorly understood.
Wigglesworth’s research concentrated on insect hormones and how they affected physiological processes. It was known that brain secretions initiated certain physiological processes; for example, a decapitated insect would live but it would not molt. Wigglesworth implanted different sections of the brain into the bodies of decapitated insects, and he was thus able to identify the particular areas of the brain where neurosecretory cells were located. He also proved that the brain was the only place in the body of these insects that produced the triggering hormones. This was the first time the role of neurosecretory brain cells in animal development was established experimentally.
Wigglesworth’s further studies of insect hormones showed that brain secretions controlled not only molting but also how and when insect larvae would metamorphose into adult forms. He established that it was a hormone, identified as the juvenile hormone, which prevented larvae from developing adult characteristics until they were fully grown. He conducted an experiment in which larvae were continually exposed to the juvenile hormone; as a result of this exposure, larvae maintained their immature form but continued to grow in size. The study of this and other phenomena associated with insect hormones led Wigglesworth to develop a theory of metamorphosis which proposes that the genetic factors necessary for larval development are regulated by the juvenile hormone.
Wigglesworth’s research did not concentrate solely on neurological issues but ranged over a wide array of physiological phenomena. He determined how insects are able to make their feet adhere to walking surfaces, how insect eggs breathe, and how symbiotic microorganisms provide vitamins to insects which live solely on blood. The comprehensive nature of his curiosity and understanding enabled him to write books integrating the complete scope of knowledge about insect physiology. His book, Principles of Insect Physiology, first published in 1939, became a standard international text. His work has become so basic to entomology that most of it has been incorporated into the standard body of educational material.
Wigglesworth continued to work full time until shortly before his death. In 1926, he became a lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he began his famous studies with rhodnius prolixus, a South American blood-sucking insect known to be a carrier of Chagas’ disease. The insect was thereafter known among entomologists as “Wigglesworth’s bug.” Wigglesworth was appointed reader in entomology at London University in 1936. He returned to Cambridge in 1945 and in 1952 was named Quick Professor of Biology at Cambridge. He served as director of the Agricultural Research Council’s entomological unit from 1943 to 1967.
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(INSECTS PROVIDE an ideal medium in which to study all the...)
(When Patrick A. Buxton was appointed by the London School...)
Known for his strong scientific judgment, care in formulating hypotheses, and precision in discussing scientific ideas, Wigglesworth also advocated caution in using sweeping measures to control insects. He warned against heavy use of pesticides and supported the study of species-specific pheromones to affect insect populations.
Wigglesworth was a member of scientific societies around the world. He was a member of the Royal Entomological Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Quotes from others about the person
“His manner always remained that of a very senior medical consultant; the careful form of question, the cautious, almost shy, analytical progression of thought, and the decisive separation of important and trivial evidence.” - Antony Tucker
Wigglesworth married Mabel Katherine Semple in 1928. They had three sons and a daughter. His wife died in 1986.