Frederick Stratten Russell

Who was Frederick Stratten Russell?

Sir Frederick Stratten Russell FRS was an English marine biologist.

Russell was born in Bridport, Dorset, and studied at Gonville and Caius College, at the University of Cambridge. From 1924 he worked for the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, becoming its director in 1945. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1938, was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1961, and knighted in 1965. The National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association retains much of Russell's scientific and personal papers for the period 1921-1984.

Russell studied the life histories and distribution of plankton. He also discovered a means of distinguishing between different species of fish shortly after they have hatched. He was the author of The Medusae of the British Isles. He served in both World Wars, being awarded, among other, the Distinguished Flying Cross.