George Hudson (entomologist)

Fuzzy head-and-shoulders photo of a 40-year-old man in a cloth cap and mustache — Hudson in 1907, as a member of the Auckland Islands Party of the Sub Antarctic Expedition.

Head-and-shoulders portrait of a sixtyish man in a wingtip collar and tie and a three-piece suit. He is nearly bald and wears a mustache. He looks directly at the viewer with the vestiges of a smile. — In later life

George Vernon Hudson (20 April 1867 – 5 April 1946) was a New Zealand entomologist.

Born in London, Hudson was the sixth child of Charles Hudson, an artist and stained-glass window designer. By the age of 14 he had already built up a collection of British insects, and had published a paper in The Entomologist. In 1881 Hudson moved with his father to Nelson, New Zealand. He worked on a farm, and in 1883, aged 16, he began working at the post office in Wellington, where he eventually became Chief Clerk, retiring in 1918.^[1].

Hudson's collection of insects is housed in the Te Papa Museum.

Although best known for his entomology, Hudson was also an astronomer, and invented daylight saving time. His shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects, and made him aware of the value of after-hours daylight.^[2] In 1895 he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift,^[3] and after considerable interest was expressed in Christchurch, New Zealand he followed up in an 1898 paper.^[4]

References

^ J.T. Salmon. George Vernon Hudson, F.R.S.N.Z. (1867–1946). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 1946;76(2):264–6.
^ George Gibbs. Hudson, George Vernon 1867–1946. In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. 1996. [updated 2007-06-22].
^ G. V. Hudson. On seasonal time-adjustment in countries south of lat. 30°. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 1895;28:734.
^ G. V. Hudson. On seasonal time. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 1898;31:577–588.