Publication Abstract

Papers in appreciation of David Henry Cushing FRS

Keith M. Brander and R.R. Dickson

The well-tempered Festschrift is planned well in ad-vance of need, emerging on cue to coincide with some august anniversary or another, and covering a tightly knit group of subjects in which the recipient is expert. It tells us as much about the man as the authors, that the present collection of papers for David Cushing is not of that type, being much too late for his 70th anniversary, and much too diverse to be easily classified as to subject. The explanation is simple and motivated for the best of reasons: that since David continues to shoulder his heavy workload at the forefront of fisheries science, it is much easier to regard him as a colleague and co-worker than as a remote and venerable figure in retirement, and something of a shock to realize that he was and is both, and that it was high time to do something about it! This realization, when it came, dawned on several of his colleagues at more or less the same time and prompted the determination to compile the present volume as an overdue recognition of David's contribution and achievements. The diversity of the contents is of course no more than a recognition of the diversity of his interests, and few of the papers will concern subjects in which he has not himself played some leading role in the course of a long career. We are grateful to Tim Parsons the Editor-in-Chief and John Gamble, Associate Edi-tor, for permitting such wide latitude in subject-matter on this occasion and for this reason.

The size and complexity of David's contribution over almost half a century and the burning issues of the time which motivated the work cannot be distilled ade-quately into the space of a few pages and I do not attempt that here. Instead my aim is to provide an outline sketch with enough detail and colour applied here and there to make his character recognizable. If the job is the least bit lifelike, others will be able to flesh-out the details for themselves from their own recollections.

David Henry Cushing was born in Alnwick, North-umberland on 14 March 1920 the son of a local school-master. He was educated at the Duke's School Alnwick, and the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Royal Grammar School before going up to Balliol College Oxford where he gained his M.A. and in 1950 his D. Phil on the subject of `Vertical migration of the zooplankton'. His route into the life sciences had largely been shaped by his mother who, as a nurse, suggested he became a doctor, while his father, who taught French and English had suggested a career as a diplomat. We can thank the workings of a benign Providence that his mother pre-vailed! His father nonetheless provided a key influence in the stream of original works on the great expeditions of the time which he brought home from the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle and which instilled a firm desire for travel as some part of his eventual career.

Reference:

Keith M. Brander and R.R. Dickson, 1993. Papers in appreciation of David Henry Cushing FRSFisheries Oceanography, 2(3/4): 109-113.