Thomas Cavalier-Smith

Thomas (Tom) Cavalier-Smith, FRS, FRSC, NERC Professorial Fellow (born 21 October 1942), is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Zoology, at the University of Oxford. His research has led to discovery of a number of unicellular organisms (protists) and definition of taxonomic positions, such as introduction of the kingdom Chromista, and other groups including Chromalveolata, Opisthokonta, Rhizaria, and Excavata. He is well known for his series of classification system of all organisms.

Life and career

Cavalier-Smith was born on 21 October 1941 in London. His parent were Alan Hailes Spencer and Mary Maude Cavalier-Smith. He was educated at Norwich School, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (MA) and King's College London (PhD). He was under the supervision of Sir John Randall for his PhD thesis between 1964-1967; his thesis was entitled "Organelle Development in Chlamydomonas reinhardii".

From 1967 to 1969, he was a guest investigator at Rockefeller University. He became Lecturer of biophysics at King’s College London in 1969. He was promoted to Reader in 1982. In 1989 he was appointed Professor of botany at the University of British Columbia. In 1999, he joined the University of Oxford, becoming Professor of evolutionary biology in 2000.