William John Dakin

{{Short description|Zoologist (1883–1950)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox person

|name = William John Dakin

|image =

|caption =

|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1883|04|23}}

|birth_place = Toxteth, Liverpool

|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1950|04|02|1883|04|23}}

|death_place = Turramurra, Sydney

|other_names =

|known_for =

|occupation = Scientist

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}}

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William John Dakin (23 July 1883 – 2 April 1950) was a zoologist who is remembered for the large number of his students who achieved prominence in the area of zoology and for the number of books and papers he wrote on many scientific fields.

Dakin was born in Toxteth, a suburb of Liverpool, England in 1883,{{cite web|url=http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P000344b.htm|title=Bright Sparcs – Biographical entry|year=2007|accessdate=30 October 2008}} as the son of William and Elizabeth Dakin. His father was a coal merchant.

Studying at the University of Liverpool he attained his BSc with first class honours in Zoology in 1905, his MSc in 1907 and his DSc in 1911 on osmotic pressure and the blood of fishes.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Ursula |first=Bygott|author2=Cable, K. J.|year=1981|id=A080211b|title=Dakin, William John (1883–1950)|accessdate=2 November 2008}}

In 1912 Dakin applied and was appointed as the chair of Biology at the recently established University of Western Australia. Before arriving to take his post Dakin married Catherine Lewis in 1913.

While at UWA Dakin published The Elements of Animal Biology in 1918,{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3647193|title=National Library of Australia Catalogue|year=2008|accessdate=30 October 2008}} chaired the extension committee, twice visited the Houtman Abrolhos and was the president of the Royal Society of Western Australia.

Dakin was Professor of Zoology at the University of Sydney from 1929 to 1947.{{cite web|title=Biological Sciences – Honours Scholarships and Prizes|url=http://sydney.edu.au/science/biology/studying_biology/future_honours/scholarships-prizes.shtml|publisher=The University of Sydney|accessdate=25 December 2017}}

In 1949 he was awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.[https://archive.today/20090925233041/http://anzaas.org.au/mueller.html ANZAAS > Mueller Medal Recipients (1904-2005)] archive.is Retrieved 12 February 2025.

A frequent contributor to early issues of Walkabout, among the books he wrote was Whalemen Adventurers (1934), a history of whaling in Australia.{{cite book |last1=Dakin |first1=William John |title=Whalemen Adventurers; the story of whaling in Australian waters and other southern seas related thereto, from the days of sail to modern times |date=1934 |publisher=Angus and Robertson |location=Sydney |edition=First}} A revised edition was issued in 1938; it was reissued by Sirius Books in 1963.