Brian J. Ford

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Brian J. Ford
Brian J Ford.jpg
Born1939 (age 81–82)
Corsham, Wiltshire, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationScientist, author and broadcaster

Brian J. Ford FLS HonFRMS (born 1939 in Corsham, Wiltshire[1]) is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public. He has also been a television personality for more than 40 years.

Education[]

Ford attended the King's School, Peterborough, and then Cardiff University to study botany and zoology between 1959 and 1961, leaving before graduating to set up his own multi-disciplinary laboratory.[2]

Career and positions[]

Universities[]

Learned Societies[]

  • Fellow of the Linnean Society - serving as a member of their council as their Zoological Secretary and is their honorary surveyor of scientific instruments.[2]
  • Fellow of the Institute of Biology - a former member of their council and chairman of their history network.[2] (He also edited: Institute of Biology: The First Fifty Years which is devoted to the history of this Institute.[8])
  • Life fellow of Cambridge Philosophical Society
  • Fellowship by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and Art in 2004
  • Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society - Appointed in February 2017, having been elected as an ordinary fellow in 1962.[2]

Other positions[]

He was the first British President of the European Union of Science Journalists' Associations,[citation needed] founding Chairman of the Science and Technology Authors Committee at the Society of Authors,[citation needed] and the president of the Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR) of Cambridge University.[9] Ford has been a member of Mensa and was a director of British Mensa from 1993–1997, resigning a few months after being elected for a second term.[10][11] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1962.

2012 aquatic dinosaur hypothesis[]

In the April 2012 issue of Laboratory News, Ford put forward the idea that all large dinosaurs were aquatic, arguing that they were too large and heavy to be land animals.[12] Recent oxygen isotope analysis and taphonomic changes show clear evidence for a semi-aquatic lifestyle, however only for the Spinosaurus, so far no sauropod or ornitischian has been shown to be semi-aquatic. [13] [14] [15]

Bibliography[]

Books[]

  • Allied Secret Weapons: the War of Science; Weapons Book #19, ISBN 0-345-02097-9 . USA Ballantine Books, 1970. ISBN 0-356-03746-0, UK, Macdonald, 1970.
  • Microbiology and food, ISBN 0-9501665-0-2 (hardback), UK, Catering Times, 1971. ISBN 0-9501665-1-0 (paperback). UK, Northwood, 1970.
  • German secret weapons, blueprint for Mars, ISBN 0-356-03034-2. Australia, South Africa, & New Zealand, Macdonald.
  • Nonscience . . . or how to rule the world, ISBN 0-7234-0449-6. UK, Wolfe, 1971.
  • The optical microscope manual, past and present uses and techniques, ISBN 0-7153-5862-6. UK, David & Charles, 1973. ISBN 0-8448-0157-7. USA, Crane Russak, 1973.
  • The revealing lens, mankind and the microscope, ISBN 0-245-51016-8. UK, George Harrap, 1973.
  • Microbe power, tomorrow's revolution, ISBN 0-356-08384-5. UK, Macdonald and Jane's, 1976. ISBN 0-8128-1936-5. USA, Stein and Day, 1976.
  • Patterns of sex, the mating urge and our sexual future, ISBN 0-354-04375-7. UK, Macdonald and Janes, 1979. ISBN 0-312-59811-4. USA, St Martin's Press, 1980.
  • The Cult of the expert (hardback) ISBN 0-241-10476-9, (paperback) 0552122491. UK, Transworld, 1982.
  • 101 questions about science, ISBN 0-241-10992-2. UK, Hamish Hamilton, 1983.
  • 101 more questions about science, ISBN 0-241-11246-X. UK, Hamish Hamilton, 1984.
  • Single lens, the story of the simple microscope, ISBN 0-434-26844-5. UK, William Heinemann, 1985. ISBN 0-06-015366-0. USA, Harper & Row, 1985.
  • Compute, how, where, why ... do you really need to? ISBN 0-241-11490-X. UK, Hamish Hamilton, 1985.
  • The food book, ISBN 0-241-11834-4. UK, Hamish Hamilton, 1986.
  • The human body, ISBN 1-85561-013-2. UK, Belitha Books, ISBN 1-85561-040-X. USA, Belitha, 1990.
  • The Leeuwenhoek legacy, ISBN 0-948737-10-7. UK, Biopress, ISBN 1-85083-016-9. UK, Farrand Press, 1991.
  • Images of science, a history of scientific illustration, ISBN 0-7123-0267-0. UK, British Library, 1992. ISBN 0-19-520983-4. USA, Oxford University Press, 1993.
  • My first encyclopaedia of science, ISBN 0-86272-944-0. UK, Kingfisher Books, 1993.
  • The new Guinness book of records quiz book, ISBN 0-85112-635-9. UK, Guinness Publishing, 1994.
  • BSE the facts, ISBN 0-552-14530-0. UK, Transworld, 1996.
  • Genes, the fight for life, ISBN 0-304-35019-2. UK, Cassells, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35019-2. USA, Sterling Publications, 1999.
  • Sensitive souls, senses and communication in plants, animals and microbes, ISBN 0-316-63956-7. UK, Little, Brown, 1999.
  • The Future of food, ISBN 0-500-28075-4. UK, Thames & Hudson, 2000. ISBN 0-500-28075-4. USA and Canada, Thames & Hudson, 2000.
  • Secret language of life, how animals and plants feel and communicate, ISBN 0-88064-254-8. USA, Fromm International, 2000.
  • Using the digital microscope, ISBN 0-9543595-0-X. UK, Rothay House, 2002.
  • Secret Weapons: Technology, Science and the Race to Win World War II, ISBN 1-84908-390-8. UK, Osprey Publishing, 2011.
  • Too Big To Walk: The New Science of Dinosaurs, ISBN 978-0-00-821893-5. UK, William Collins, 2019.

Book chapters[]

  • "The recovery, removal, and reconstruction of human skeletal remains, some new techniques", chapter in Field manual for museums. Paris, UNESCO, 1970.
  • "Récuperation, enlèvement et reconstitution des ossements", chapter in Musées et recherches sur le terrain. Paris, UNESCO, 1970.
  • Brian J Ford explains why he considers Cardiff the most unappreciated city in the world, chapter in The Cardiff book, ISBN 0-900807-05-9. Barry: Stewart Williams Publishers, 1973.
  • "Discharge to the environment of viruses in wastewater, sludges and aerosols", chapter with JS Slade in Viral pollution of the environment, ed: G Berg, ISBN 0-8493-6245-8. Boca Raton, CRC Press, 1983.
  • "Sexually transmitted diseases", chapter in Sex and Your Health ed J Bevan, ISBN 0-85533-571-8. London, Mitchell Beazley, 1985.
  • "Las Enfermedades de Transmisión Sexual y Otras que las Imitan", chapter in El Sexo y la Salud ed J Bevan, ISBN 84-320-4570-5. Barcelona, Editorial Planeta, 1985.
  • "Exploring South Wales", chapter in Walking in Britain, ed J. Hillaby, ISBN 0-00-412272-0. London: William Collins, 1988.
  • Robert Hooke, an introduction to Hooke's Micrographia, commentary on CD-ROM edition of Micrographia, 1665 ISBN 1-891788-02-7. Palo Alto, Octavo, 1998.
  • "Witnessing the birth of the microscope", photoessay in Millennium yearbook of science and the future, ISBN 0-85229-703-3. Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2000.
  • "Eighteenth-century scientific publishing", chapter in Scientific books, libraries and collectors, ISBN 1-85928-233-4. London, Thornton & Tully, 2000.
  • "Scientific Illustration", chapter in vol 4 of The Cambridge history of science, ed R Porter ISBN 0-521-57243-6. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • "Hidden secrets in the Royal Society archive", chapter 3 in Biological collections and biodiversity, eds BS Rushton, P Hackney and CR Tyrie, ISBN 1-84103-005-8. Otley, Westbury Academic and Scientific Publishing, 2001.
  • "Trouble on the hoof, disease outbreaks in Europe," chapter in 2002 book of the year, ISBN 0-85229-812-9. Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002.
  • "Human behaviour and the changing pattern of disease", chapter in The changing face of disease, implications for society, ISBN 0-415-32280-4. London and Boca Raton, CRC Press, 2004.
  • "What Next After SARS?" (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), chapter in 2004 book of the year, ISBN 0-85229-812-9. Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2004.
  • "Bird flu, the next pandemic?", chapter in 2006 book of the year, ISBN 1-59339-291-5. Chicago, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006.

References[]

  1. ^ GRO Register of Births: JUN 1939 5a 88 CHIPPENHAM – Brian J. Ford
  2. ^ a b c d "Prof Brian J Ford announced as RMS Honorary Fellow". Royal Microscopical Society. Oxford, UK. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  3. ^ McCrone Research Institute (McRI) – Chicago, IL Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Cambridge Society for the Application of Research | CSAR".
  5. ^ The Royal Literary Fund Archived 4 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "University of Leicester - Scientist, Author and Broadcaster to Support University's Developments in E-Learning".
  7. ^ University of Leicester – Leicester Professor elected at Cambridge
  8. ^ Institute of Biology: The First Fifty Years, Institute of Biology, ISBN 0-900490-37-3
  9. ^ "Society for the Application of Research".
  10. ^ "Mensa Elections", p.4, Mensa Magazine October 1993
  11. ^ "Musical Chairs", p.4, Mensa Magazine March 1998
  12. ^ Ford, Brian J (3 April 2012). "A prehistoric revolution". Laboratory News. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014.
  13. ^ Amiot, R., Buffetaut, E., Lécuyer, C., Wang, X., Boudad, L., Ding, Z., ... & Zhou, Z. (2010). Oxygen isotope evidence for semi-aquatic habits among spinosaurid theropods. Geology, 38(2), 139-142.
  14. ^ Ibrahim, N., Maganuco, S., Dal Sasso, C., Fabbri, M., Auditore, M., Bindellini, G., ... & Pierce, S. E. (2020). Tail-propelled aquatic locomotion in a theropod dinosaur. Nature, 581(7806), 67-70.
  15. ^ Beevor, T., Quigley, A., Smith, R. E., Smyth, R. S., Ibrahim, N., Zouhri, S., & Martill, D. M. (2021). Taphonomic evidence supports an aquatic lifestyle for Spinosaurus Cretaceous Research, 117, 104627. .

External links[]

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