resting_place death_date death_place children birth_place article_title parents birth_date spouse image employer education name occupation
warriston cemetery 24 february 1899 edinburgh , scotland three sons , four daughters brucefield , dunfermline john struthers -lrb- anatomist -rrb-
 alexander , mary -lrb- reid -rrb- 21 february 1823 christina margaret alexander john struthers b1823.jpg u. edinburgh , u. aberdeen university of edinburgh john struthers anatomist , professor
john struthers -lrb- anatomist -rrb-

sir john struthers frse frcsed -lrb- -- -rrb- was the first regius professor of anatomy at the university of aberdeen .
he was a dynamic teacher and administrator , transforming the status of the institutions in which he worked .
he was equally passionate about anatomy , enthusiastically seeking out and dissecting the largest and finest specimens , including whales , and troubling his colleagues with his single-minded quest for money and space for his collection .
among scientists , he is perhaps best known for his work on the ligament which bears his name .
his work on the rare and vestigial ligament of struthers came to the attention of charles darwin , who used it in his `` descent of man '' to help argue the case that man and other mammals shared a common ancestor .
among the public , struthers was famous for his dissection of the `` tay whale '' , a humpback whale that appeared in the firth of tay , was hunted and then dragged ashore to be exhibited across britain .
struthers took every opportunity he could to dissect it and recover its bones .
in the medical profession , he was known for transforming the teaching of anatomy , for the papers and books that he wrote , as well as for his efficient work in his medical school , for which he was successively awarded medicine 's highest honours , including membership of the general medical council , fellowship of the royal society of edinburgh , the presidency of the royal college of surgeons of edinburgh , and finally a knighthood .
