David M. S. Watson

David Meredith Seares Watson (18 June 1886 – 23 July 1973) was a specialist in geology and began to study plant fossils in coal deposits. In 1907, his final year, he published an important paper on coal balls with Marie Stopes (who had an early career as a paleobotanist); after graduating with first class honours he was appointed as a Beyer fellow at Manchester and went on to complete his MSc in 1909.

After his MSc, Watson continued to develop his wide interest in fossils and studied intensively at the British Museum of Natural History in London, and on extended visits to South Africa, Australia, and the United States. In 1912 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Vertebrate Palaeontology, at University College London by Professor James Peter Hill.

His scientific research, besides his early original work on fossil plants, was chiefly concerned with vertebrate palaeontology, especially fossil reptiles. He amassed a large collection of fossils from his wide travels.

Published works

 * "Palaeontology and the Evolution of Man", Romanes Lecture, Oxford, 1928
 * The Animal Bones from Skara Brae (1931)
 * "Science and Government", the Earl Grey Memorial Lecture, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1942
 * "Paleontology and Modern Biology", the Silliman Memorial Lecture, Yale University, 1951
 * Many papers on vertebrate palaeontology and connected subjects in Philosophical Transactions, Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Journal of Anatomy, and elsewhere.