Ernest James Goddard

Ernest James Goddard (20 February 1883 – 17 January 1948) was an Australian professor of biology. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, he was one of six sons to Alfred and Elizabeth Goddard. He attended Maitland High School before moving to Sydney for higher education at the University of Sydney, where he earned a B.A. in 1904 and a BSc with honors in zoology and palaeontology in 1906. During his studies, he served as a junior demonstrator in biology. Goddard's career began with an expedition to Fiji for the Royal Society in 1906-1908. Upon returning, he became a Macleay Linnean Research Fellow at the University of Sydney and earned the first D.Sc. degree awarded by the university in 1910. His research on leeches and earthworms led to academic opportunities, including the Chair of Zoology, Geology, and Mineralogy at Victoria College (now Stellenbosch University) in South Africa from 1911. He later focused on zoology after the geology department split off. In 1923, Goddard joined the University of Queensland as Chair of Biology, promoting science through public lectures and newspaper articles. He contributed to agricultural biology, particularly entomology, and advocated for the use of cactoblastis to control prickly pear infestations. He played a key role in establishing faculties of agriculture, medicine, and dentistry at the university, becoming the first Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture in 1927 and the first Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry in 1935. Goddard was a fellow of several scientific societies and worked to establish a marine ...