Sir Vincent (Brian) Wigglesworth

Entomologist, born in Kirkham, Lancashire, NW England, UK. He studied at Cambridge and St Thomas' Hospital, taught entomology at London (1926, 1936–44), then moved to Cambridge, where he became professor of biology (1952–66) and director of the Agricultural Research Unit of Insect Physiology (1943–67). He investigated the role of hormones in the growth of insects, and carried out detailed studies on the function of body-parts, often involving organ transplantation. He was knighted in 1964.

Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth (17 April 1899 - 11 February 1994) was a British entomologist who made significant contributions to the field of insect physiology. His most significant contribution was the discovery that neurosecretory cells in the brain of the South American kissing bug, Rhodnius prolixus, secrete a crucial growth hormone which regulates the process of metamorphosis. He went on to discover another hormone, called the juvenile hormone, which prevented the development of adult characteristics in R. Wigglesworth was able to distort the developmental phases of the insect by controlling levels of this hormone. From these observations, Wigglesworth was able to develop a coherent theory of how an insect's genome can selectively activate hormones which determine its development and morphology.

Wigglesworth also described the bacterium Wigglesworthia glossinidia brevipalpis, an endosymbiont related to E.

Wigglesworth also served in the military in France in World War I. He lectured at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of London, and finally at the University of Cambridge.