James Young Simpson

1873-1934. Scottish natural scientist. He studied at Edinburgh University where he became involved in the evangelical work of the day (e.g., the Moody mission). Strongly influenced by Henry Drummond,* who persuaded him to take up science as a Christian work, Simpson became professor of natural science at Edinburgh. He wrote five books on science and religion, the best known being Landmarks in the Struggle between Science and Religion (1925) in which he effectively demolished a.d. White's History of the Warfare of Science with Theology (1896). Where White saw a struggle between religion and science, Simpson saw one between each older generation of scientists and the new generation about to succeed it. His own forebear and great-uncle, Sir James, had strongly opposed Joseph Lister, inventor of antiseptic surgery.