Robert John Tillyard

Robert "Robin" John Tillyard FRS (31 January 1881 – 13 January 1937) was an English–Australian entomologist and geologist.

Early life and education

Tillyard was the son of J. J. Tillyard and his wife Mary Ann Frances, née Wilson and was born at Norwich, Norfolk. While working as a science master Tillyard found time to publish extensively on dragonflies.

Tillyard was killed following a car accident near Goulburn between Canberra and Sydney. The car was driven by his daughter, Hope, who was badly injured. The car had skidded and rolled over and he had hit the windscreen and broken his neck. He died at Goulburn Hospital.

In 1926 there was a minor controversy in the Nature journal amongst several writers. This was caused by Tillyard writing a predominantly supportive review of Arthur Conan Doyle's book The History of Spiritualism. Critics such as A. A. Campbell Swinton pointed to the evidence of fraud in mediumship and Doyle's nonscientific approach to the subject.

Tillyard had attended séances with the medium Mina Crandon in Boston. He managed to persuade Sir Richard Gregory the editor of Nature to publish his findings. In the 18 August 1928 issue of Nature in a paper entitled Evidence of Survival of a Human Personality he presented his observations on Crandon's séance phenomena and his belief in life after death.

Publications Entomology Mesozoic and Tertiary Insects of Queensland and New South Wales (1916) The Biology of Dragonflies: (Odonata or Paraneuroptera (1917) The Insects of Australia and New Zealand (1926)

Psychical Research