led in saving Wicken Fen from draining and development. Thorpe was a critic of mechanistic materialism. He authored the book Purpose in a World of Chance (1978); in opposition to Jacques Monod, he argued for purpose and mind in nature. Thorpe was a theist and argued for the compatibility of religious belief with the practice of science. He identified as a philosophical dualist. Honours He was elected to the Royal Society in 1951 and speaker at the Gifford lectures from 1969 to 1971. He was president of the British Ornithologists' Union from 1955 to 1960. References Bibliography Learning and Instinct in Animals (1956) Methuen, London Biology, Psychology and Belief (Arthur Stanley Eddington memorial lectures) (1960) Bird-Song. The biology of vocal communication and expression in birds, University Press, Cambridge 1961, (Cambridge monographs in experimental biology; Vol. 12) Biology and Nature of Man (Riddell Memorial Lecture) (1962) Duetting and antiphonal song in birds. Its extent and significance, Brill, Leiden 1972, (Behaviour / Supplements; Vol. 18) Quakers and Humanists (Swarthmore Lectures) (1968) Animal Nature and Human Nature (1975) Science, Man and Morals. Based upon the Freemantle lectures, delivered in Balliol College, Oxford, Trinity term 1963, Greenwood, Westport, Conn. 1976, Purpose in a World of Chance: A Biologist's View (1978) The Origins and Rise of Ethology. The Science of the Natural Behaviour of Animals, Heinemann, London 1979, External links Metzmacher, M. 2016. L'apprentissage du chant chez le Pinson des arbres (Fringilla coelebs) : une réévaluation des conclusions de Thorpe Alauda, 84 : 237-239. Ethologists Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge 1902 births 1986 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British zoologists