Professor Mike Majerus [1954 - 2009]
As there is a lot of interest in long-term member of this Department, Professor Michael Majerus, and because Mike expressed strong wishes that the content of some of his talks be made freely available, we will continue to include some information about him on our website.
After a short but severe illness Mike died in January 2009, and was cremated on 3rd February. He was a traditional Cambridge scientist; a charismatic individual for whom the boundaries between life and work, and teaching and research, were very hard to discern. He was a world authority in his field, a tireless advocate of evolution, and an enthusiastic educator of graduate and undergraduate students. Mike’s enthusiasm for his subject, and his rapport with students, made him an ideal undergraduate lecturer. He had a great enthusiasm for field work and was tireless in training all of his students in practical skills. Never shy of publicity, he took every opportunity to promote his field of evolutionary biology to the wider public. In 2004 the arrival of the harlequin ladybird in Britain was a disaster for native species, but catapulted Mike into the public eye and on to the front page of The Times. Such was the appetite of the press, TV and radio for Mike’s work with the harlequin ladybird that for weeks he was omnipresent in the media. An enthusiast, a natural teacher and a man who radiated a passion for his subject he will be very sorely missed by all of his friends and colleagues in the Department of Genetics. [From: Dedication by Dr David Summers, Head of Department in January 2009]
> Mike's obituary from the Independent, 13 Feb 2009
> Tribute to Mike on the University of Cambridge website
> The Peppered Moth : Decline of a Darwinian Disciple [talk delivered to the British Humanist Association, at the London School of Economics, on Darwin Day, 12th February 2004] Text of the talk and Powerpoint presentation both available as pdf files
> The Peppered Moth: The Proof of Darwinian Evolution [talk delivered at ESEB2007; 11th Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, 20-25 August 2007, Uppsala, Sweden] Text of the talk and Powerpoint presentation both available as pdf files
> Harmonia axyridis in the UK : The harlequin ladybird is still being monitored. Anyone finding an example of this ladybird in the UK should submit details to: www.harlequin-survey.org. We do have some images that might help you identify whether a ladybird is in fact a harlequin - See our harlequin page. There is also a general UK Ladybird Survey for which your contribution would be appreciated.
> Launch of the AES Mike Majerus Fund [November 2009]
This page created 31 March 2010/revised 24 May 2010: Please note that the information on Mike's pages is no longer current and will not be updated.