Editing J. B. S. Haldane (section)

== Biography ==

=== Early life and education ===

Haldane was born in [[Oxford]] in 1892. His father was the [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[physiology|physiologist]], scientist, [[philosopher]], and [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]], [[John Scott Haldane]], who was the grandson of evangelist [[James Alexander Haldane]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dboDwAAQBAJ&dq=John+Burdon+Sanderson+Haldane+grandfather+James+Alexander+Haldane&pg=PP10|title=Haldane: The Forgotten Statesman Who Shaped Britain and Canada|author= Campbell, John|date=16 July 2020|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP|isbn=978-0-2280-0233-8}}</ref> His mother Louisa Kathleen Trotter, was a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] of Scottish ancestry. His only sibling, [[Naomi Mitchison]], became a prominent Scottish writer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Fantes|first1=Peter|last2=Mitchison|first2=Sally|date=2019|title=J. Murdoch Mitchison. 11 June 1922—17 March 2011|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|language=en|volume=67|pages=279–306|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2019.0006|doi-access=free}}</ref> His uncle was [[Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane|Viscount Haldane]] and his aunt was the author [[Elizabeth Haldane]]. Descended from an aristocratic and [[secular]] family of the [[Clan Haldane]],<ref name="acott">{{cite journal |last = Acott |first = C. |title = JS Haldane, JBS Haldane, L Hill, and A Siebe: A brief resumé of their lives. |journal = South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal |volume = 29 |issue = 3 |year = 1999 |issn = 0813-1988 |oclc = 16986801 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6016 |access-date = 12 July 2008 |url-status = usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727224432/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6016 |archive-date = 27 July 2011 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> he later claimed that his [[Y chromosome]] could be traced back to [[Robert the Bruce]].<ref name=hedrick>{{cite journal |last = Hedrick |first = Larry |title = J.B.S. Haldane: A Legacy in Several Worlds |journal = The World & I Online |year = 1989 |url=http://www.worldandischool.com/public/1989/december/school-resource15482.asp |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222141231/http://www.worldandischool.com/public/1989/december/school-resource15482.asp |archive-date = 22 February 2014 |df = dmy-all |access-date = 17 February 2014 }}</ref>

Haldane grew up at 11 Crick Road, North Oxford.<ref>{{cite web |title = J. S. Haldane (1860–1936) |url=http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/haldane.html |publisher = Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board |access-date = 17 February 2014 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> He learnt to read at the age of three, and at four, after injuring his forehead, he asked the physician treating him about the bleeding, "Is this [[oxyhaemoglobin]] or [[carboxyhaemoglobin]]?" He was raised as an [[Anglicanism|Anglican Christian]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3h4DQAAQBAJ&q=anglican|title=Popularizing Science: The Life and Work of JSB Haldane|author= Dronamraju, Krishna R.|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-933392-9}}</ref> From age eight he worked with his father in their home laboratory where he experienced his first [[self-experimentation]], the method he would later be famous for. He and his father became their own "human guinea pigs", such as in their investigation on the effects of poison gases. In 1899, his family moved to "Cherwell", a late Victorian house at the outskirts of Oxford with its own private laboratory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/world-war-1/people/john-scott-haldane |title=John Scott Haldane |access-date=15 April 2021 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415115930/https://www.ox.ac.uk/world-war-1/people/john-scott-haldane |url-status=dead }}</ref> At age 8, in 1901, his father brought him to the [[Oxford University Junior Scientific Club]] to listen to a lecture on [[Mendelian genetics]], which had been recently rediscovered.<ref name=":9" /> Although he found the lecture given by [[Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire]], Demonstrator of Zoology at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], "interesting but difficult",<ref name="dronamjaru1992" /> it influenced him permanently such that genetics became the field in which he made his most important scientific contributions.<ref name=":3" />

His formal education began in 1897 at Oxford Preparatory School (now [[Dragon School]]), where he gained a First Scholarship in 1904 to [[Eton College]]. In 1905 he joined Eton, where he experienced severe abuse from senior students for allegedly being arrogant, but was befriended by [[Julian Huxley]].<ref>Calder, Jenni (2019), ''The Burning Glass: The Life of Naomi Mitchison'', Sandstone Press Ltd., [[Dingwall]], p. 27, {{isbn|9781912240661}}</ref> The indifference of authority left him with a lasting hatred for the English education system. However, the ordeal did not stop him from becoming captain of the school.<ref name=":4" />

He participated for the first time in scientific research as a volunteer subject for his father in 1906. John was the first to study the effects of [[Decompression sickness|decompression]] (relief from high pressure) in humans.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Devanney|first=Richard|date=7 September 2016|title=Decompression Theory – Part 2|url=https://www.tdisdi.com/tdi-diver-news/decompression-theory-part-2/|access-date=7 August 2021|website=www.tdisdi.com|language=en-US}}</ref> He investigated the physiological condition called "[[Decompression sickness |bends]]", such as when goats lift and bend their legs if discomforted, that also may affect deep-sea divers.<ref name =JoH/> In July 1906, on board ''[[HMS Spanker (1889)|HMS Spanker]]'' off the west coast of Scotland, [[Rothesay]], young Haldane jumped into the Atlantic Ocean with the experimental diving suit. The study was published in a 101-paged article in ''[[The Journal of Hygiene]]'' in 1908; where Haldane was described as "Jack Haldane (age 13)" for whom it "was the first time [he] had ever dived in a diving dress".<ref name =JoH>{{Cite journal|last1=Boycott|first1=A. E.|last2=Damant|first2=G. C.|last3=Haldane|first3=J. S.|date=1908|title=The Prevention of Compressed-air Illness|journal=The Journal of Hygiene|volume=8|issue=3|pages=342–443|doi=10.1017/s0022172400003399|pmc=2167126|pmid=20474365}}</ref>{{rp|436}} The research became a foundation for a scientific theory called [[Haldane's decompression model]].<ref>{{Citation|last1=Jones|first1=Mark W.|title=Hyperbaric Physics|date=2021|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448104/|work=StatPearls|place=Treasure Island (FL)|publisher=StatPearls Publishing|pmid=28846268|access-date=7 August 2021|last2=Brett|first2=Kaighley|last3=Han|first3=Nathaniel|last4=Wyatt|first4=H. Alan}}</ref>

He studied mathematics and [[classics]] at [[New College, Oxford]], and obtained first-class honours in mathematical [[Moderations]] in 1912. He became engrossed in genetics and presented a paper on gene linkage in [[vertebrate]]s in the summer of 1912. His first technical paper, a 30-page long article on haemoglobin function, was published that same year, as a co-author alongside his father.<ref name="haldane1912">{{cite journal|last=Douglas|first=C. G.|author2=Haldane, J. S.|author3=Haldane, J. B. S.|year=1912|title=The laws of combination of haemoglobin with carbon monoxide and oxygen|journal=The Journal of Physiology|volume=44|issue=4|pages=275–304|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1912.sp001517|pmc=1512793|pmid=16993128}}</ref> His mathematical treatment of the study was published in December 1913 in the ''Proceedings of the Physiological Society''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Haldane|first=J. B. S.|date=1913|title=The dissociation of oxyhemoglobin in human blood during partial CO poisoning (Proceedings of the Physiological Society: October 19, 1912)|journal=The Journal of Physiology|language=en|volume=45|issue=suppl|pages=xxii–xxiv|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1913.sp001573|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Haldane did not want his education to be confined to a specific subject; he took up [[Greats]] (classics) and graduated with first-class honours in 1914. While he had full intention of studying physiology, his plan was, as he described later, referring to World War I, "somewhat overshadowed by other events".<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Monk |first=Ray |date=20 November 2020 |title=JBS Haldane: the man who knew almost everything |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2020/11/jbs-haldane-man-who-knew-almost-everything |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 August 2021 |website=New Statesman |language=en}}</ref> His only formal education in biology was an incomplete course in vertebrate anatomy.<ref name=":5" />

=== Career ===

To support the war effort, Haldane volunteered to join the [[British Army]], and was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion of the [[Black Watch]] (Royal Highland Regiment) on 15 August 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29172 |supp=y |page=5081 |date=25 May 1915}}</ref> He was assigned as the trench mortar officer, to lead his team for hand-bombing the enemy trenches, the experience of which he described as "enjoyable".<ref name=":4" /> In his article in 1932 he described how "he enjoyed the opportunity of killing people and regarded this as a respectable relic of primitive man".<ref name=":5" /> He was promoted to temporary lieutenant on 18 February 1915 and to temporary captain on 18 October.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29172 |supp=y |page=5079 |date=25 May 1915}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=29399 |supp=y |page=12410 |date=10 December 1915}}</ref> While serving in France, he was wounded by artillery fire and sent back to Scotland, where he served as instructor of grenades for the Black Watch recruits. In 1916, he joined the war in [[Mesopotamian campaign|Mesopotamia]] (Iraq), where an enemy bomb severely wounded him. He was relieved from the theatre of war and sent to India, where he stayed for the rest of the war.<ref name=":4" /> He returned to England in 1919 and relinquished his commission on 1 April 1920, retaining his rank of captain.<ref name= LG>{{London Gazette |issue=32445 |supp=y |page=7036 |date=2 September 1921}}</ref> For his ferocity and aggressiveness in battles, his commander described him as the "bravest and dirtiest officer in my Army".<ref name="cochran">{{cite web |last1=Cochran |first1=Gregory |last2=Harpending |first2=Henry |date=10 January 2009 |title=J.B.S. Haldane |url=http://the10000yearexplosion.com/jbs-haldanes/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609222810/http://the10000yearexplosion.com/jbs-haldanes/ |archive-date=9 June 2016 |access-date=5 May 2016 |website=The 10,000 Year Explosion |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Another senior officer of his regiment called him 'mad' and 'cracked'.<ref>University of St Andrews, University Collections, Anstruther of Balcaskie Collection, msdep121/8/2/11/1/4 - Letter from Major Robert Anstruther, 8th Battalion The Black Watch, to his mother, 6th March 1917.</ref>

Between 1919 and 1922, he served as [[Fellow#In ancient universities|Fellow]] of New College, Oxford,<ref name=Biol>{{cite web |title = Biological Sciences |url=http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/biological-sciences |publisher = [[New College, Oxford]] |access-date = 15 April 2016 |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425070751/http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/biological-sciences |archive-date = 25 April 2016 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> where, despite his lack of formal education in the field, he taught and researched in physiology and genetics. During his first year at Oxford, six of his papers dealing with physiology of respiration and genetics were published.<ref name=":5" /> He then moved to the [[University of Cambridge]], where he accepted a newly created [[Reader (academic rank)|readership]] in [[biochemistry]] in 1923 and taught until 1932.<ref name="acott" /> During his nine years at Cambridge, he worked on [[enzyme]]s and [[genetics]], particularly the mathematical side of genetics.<ref name="acott" /> While working as a visiting professor at the [[University of California]] in 1932, he was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=2 December 1964|title=Prof. J.B.S. Haldane, 72, Dies; British Geneticist and Writer; Developed Simple Treatment for Tetanus—Marxist Quit His Homeland for India|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/02/archives/prof-jbs-haldane-72-dies-british-geneticist-and-writer-developed.html|access-date=6 August 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Haldane worked part-time at the John Innes Horticultural Institution (later named [[John Innes Centre]]) at [[Merton Park]] in Surrey from 1927 to 1937.<ref name="jic.ac.uk">{{cite web|title=John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892–1964): Biochemist and geneticist; head of genetics at JIHI, 1927–1937. FRS 1932.|url=https://www.jic.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/info/JBSHaldane.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112912/https://www.jic.ac.uk/centenary/timeline/info/JBSHaldane.htm|archive-date=4 March 2016|work=jic.ac.uk}}</ref> When Alfred Daniel Hall became the director in 1926,<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Russell|first=E.J.|date=1942|title=Alfred Daniel Hall, 1864–1942|url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1942.0018|journal=Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society|language=en|volume=4|issue=11|pages=229–250|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1942.0018|s2cid=161964820|issn=1479-571X}}</ref> one of his earliest tasks was to appoint as assistant director "a man of high quality in the study of genetics" who could become his successor. Upon the recommendation of [[Julian Huxley]], the council appointed Haldane in March 1927, with the terms: "Mr. Haldane to visit the Institution fortnightly for a day and a night during the Cambridge terms, to put in two months also at Easter and long vacations in two continuous blocks and to be free in the Christmas vacation."<ref name="Wilmot2017" /> He was officer in charge of Genetical Investigations.<ref name=":5" /> He became the [[Fullerian Professor of Physiology]] at the [[Royal Institution]] from 1930 to 1932 and in 1933 he became Professor of Genetics at [[University College London]], where he spent most of his [[academic]] career.<ref name="ucl">{{cite web|url=http://archives.ucl.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo==%27HALDANE%27&dsqDb=Catalog|title =Full view of record [of Haldane]|publisher =University College London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302074310/http://archives.ucl.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo==%27HALDANE%27&dsqDb=Catalog|archive-date =2 March 2017|url-status =live|work =UCL Archives|access-date =3 February 2017|df =dmy-all}}</ref> As Hall did not retire until 1939,<ref name=":12" /> Haldane did not in fact succeed him, but resigned from the John Innes in 1936 to become the first Weldon Professor of [[biometry]] at University College London.<ref name="acott" /> Haldane was credited with helping the John Innes become "the liveliest place for research in genetics in Britain".<ref name="Wilmot2017" /> He moved his team to the [[Rothamsted Experimental Station]] in Hertfordshire from 1941 to 1944, during [[World War II]], to escape bombings.<ref name=":5" /> [[Reginald Punnett]], founder of the ''Journal of Genetics'' in 1910 with [[William Bateson]], invited him to become editor in 1933, a post he retained until his death.<ref name=":11" />

=== In India ===

[[File:Marcello Siniscalco (standing) and J.B.S. Haldane in Andra Pradesh, India, 1964.jpg|thumb|right|[[Marcello Siniscalco]] ''(standing)'' and Haldane in Andhra Pradesh, India, 1964]]

[[File:John Burdon Sanderson Haldane Avenue - Kolkata 7660.JPG|thumb|J.{{nbsp}}B.{{nbsp}}S. Haldane Avenue in [[Kolkata]], the busy connecting road from [[Eastern Metropolitan Bypass]] to [[Park Circus]] area containing [[Science City Kolkata|Science City]]]]

In 1956, Haldane left [[University College London]], and joined the [[Indian Statistical Institute]] (ISI) in Calcutta (later renamed [[Kolkata]]), India, where he worked in the [[biostatistics|biometry]] unit.<ref name=":5" /> Haldane gave many reasons for moving to India. Officially he stated that he left the UK because of the [[Suez Crisis]], writing: "Finally, I am going to India because I consider that recent acts of the British Government have been violations of [[international law]]." He believed that the warm [[climate]] would do him good, and that India shared his socialist dreams.<ref name="dronam">{{cite journal |title = On Some Aspects of the Life and Work of John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, F.R.S., in India |author = Krishna R. Dronamraju |journal = Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |volume = 41 |issue = 2 |year = 1987 |pages = 211–237 |doi = 10.1098/rsnr.1987.0006 |pmid = 11622022 |jstor = 531546 |doi-access = free }}</ref> In an article "A passage to India" that he wrote in ''The Rationalists Annual'' in 1958, he stated: "For one thing I prefer Indian food to American. Perhaps my main reason for going to India is that I consider that the opportunities for scientific research of the kind in which I am interested are better in India than in Britain, and that my teaching will be at least as useful there as here."<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Haldane|first=John Burdon Sanderson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_hDAAAAIAAJ|title=Science and Life: Essays of a Rationalist|date=1968|publisher=Pemberton Publishing|isbn=978-0-301-66584-9|pages=124–134|language=en}}</ref> The university had sacked his wife Helen for being [[public intoxication|drunk and disorderly]] and refusing to pay a fine, triggering Haldane's resignation. He declared he would no longer wear socks, "Sixty years in socks is enough."<ref>{{cite book |last = deJong-Lambert |first = William |title = The Cold War Politics of Genetic Research: An Introduction to the Lysenko Affair |year = 2012 |publisher = Springer |location = Dordrecht |isbn=978-94-007-2839-4 |page = 150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzxvfRbIMbAC |edition = 2012. |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308005118/https://books.google.com/books?id=GzxvfRbIMbAC&pg |archive-date = 8 March 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> and he always dressed in Indian attire.<ref name=dronamjaru1992 />

Haldane was keenly interested in inexpensive research. Explaining in "A passage to India", he said, "Of course, if my work required [[electron microscopes]], [[cyclotrons]], and the like, I should not get them in India. But the sort of facilities which [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]] and [[William Bateson|Bateson]] used for their researches—such as gardens, gardeners, pigeon lofts, and pigeons—are more easily obtained in India than in England."<ref name=":6" /> He wrote to Julian Huxley about his observations on ''Vanellus malabaricus'', the [[yellow-wattled lapwing]]. He advocated the use of ''Vigna sinensis'' ([[cowpea]]) as a model for studying [[plant genetics]]. He took an interest in the [[pollination]] of ''[[Lantana camara]]''. He lamented that Indian universities forced those who took up biology to drop mathematics.<ref>{{cite journal |author = Majumder PP |year = 1998 |title = Haldane's Contributions to Biological Research in India |journal = Resonance |pages = 32–35 |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Dec1998/pdf/Dec1998p32-35.pdf |doi = 10.1007/BF02838095 |volume = 3 |issue = 12 |s2cid = 121546764 |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910153330/http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Dec1998/pdf/Dec1998p32-35.pdf |archive-date = 10 September 2008 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> He took an interest in the study of [[floral symmetry]]. In January 1961 he befriended Canadian lepidopterist [[Gary Botting]], the 1960 U.S. Science Fair winner in zoology (who had first visited the Haldanes along with Susan Brown, 1960 U.S. National Science Fair winner in botany), inviting him to share the results of his experiments hybridising ''[[Antheraea]]'' silk moths. He, his wife Helen Spurway, and student Krishna Dronamraju were present at the [[The Oberoi Group|Oberoi Grand Hotel]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] when Brown reminded the Haldanes that she and Botting had a previously scheduled event that would prevent them from accepting an invitation to a banquet proposed by the Haldanes in their honour and had regretfully declined the honour. After the two students had left the hotel, Haldane went on his much-publicized hunger strike to protest what he regarded as a "U.S. insult".<ref>"Haldane on Fast: Insult by USIS Alleged", ''Times of India'', 19 January 1961; "Protest Fast by Haldane: USIS's "Anti-Indian Activities", ''Times of India'', 18 January 1961; "Situation was Misunderstood, Scholars Explain", ''Times of India'', 20 January 1961; "USIS Explanation does not satisfy Haldane: Protest fast continues", ''Times of India'', 18 January 1961; "USIS Claim Rejected by Haldane: Protest Fast to Continue", ''Times of India'', 18 January 1961; "Haldane Not Satisfied with USIS Apology: Fast to Continue", ''Free Press Journal'', 18 January 1961; "Haldane Goes on Fast In Protest Against U.S. Attitude", ''Times of India'', 18 January 1961; "Haldane to continue fast: USIS explanation unsatisfactory", ''Times of India'', 19 January 1961; "Local boy in hunger strike row", ''Toronto Star'', 20 January 1961; "Haldane, Still on Fast, Loses Weight: U.S.I.S. Act Termed 'Discourteous'", ''Indian Express'', 20 January 1961; "Haldane Slightly Tired on Third Day of Fast", ''Times of India'', 21 January 1961; "Haldane Fasts for Fourth Consecutive Day", ''Globe and Mail'', 22 January 1961</ref><ref>{{cite book |title = The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses |year = 1984 |publisher = University of Toronto Press |location = Toronto |isbn=978-0-8020-6545-2 |page = xvii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRj4hmqPRxEC |author = Botting, Gary |editor1 = Heather Denise Harden |editor2 = Gary Botting |chapter = Preface |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312150123/https://books.google.com/books?id=MRj4hmqPRxEC&dq |archive-date = 12 March 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=cook50>{{Cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Laurence M. |last2=Turner |first2=John R. G. |date=2020 |title=Fifty per cent and all that: what Haldane actually said |url=https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/129/3/765/5700465 |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |language=en |volume=129 |issue=3 |pages=765–771 |doi=10.1093/biolinnean/blz169 |issn=0024-4066|doi-access=free }}</ref> When the director of the ISI, [[P. C. Mahalanobis]], confronted Haldane about both the hunger strike and the unbudgeted banquet, Haldane resigned from his post (in February 1961), and moved to a newly established biometry unit in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa ([[Odisha]]).<ref name="dronam" />

Haldane took Indian citizenship; he was interested in [[Hinduism]] and became a [[vegetarian]].<ref name="dronam" /> In 1961, Haldane described India as "the closest approximation to the Free World". [[Jerzy Neyman]] objected that "India has its fair share of scoundrels and a tremendous amount of poor unthinking and disgustingly subservient individuals who are not attractive."<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Dronamraju|first=Krishna R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3h4DQAAQBAJ|title=Popularizing Science: The Life and Work of JBS Haldane|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-933392-9|location=New York|pages=280–285|language=en}}</ref> Haldane retorted:<blockquote>Perhaps one is freer to be a scoundrel in India than elsewhere. So one was in the U.S.A in the days of people like [[Jay Gould]], when (in my opinion) there was more internal freedom in the U.S.A than there is today. The "disgusting subservience" of the others has its limits. The people of Calcutta riot, upset trams, and refuse to obey police regulations, in a manner which would have delighted [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]]. I don't think their activities are very efficient, but that is not the question at issue.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why india survives – The true choice facing Indians|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/why-india-survives-the-true-choice-facing-indians/cid/1019066|access-date=2021-08-07|website=The Telegraph}}</ref></blockquote>When on 25 June 1962 he was described in print as a "[[World Citizen|Citizen of the World]]" by [[Groff Conklin]], Haldane responded:<blockquote>No doubt I am in some sense a citizen of the world. But I believe with Thomas Jefferson that one of the chief duties of a citizen is to be a nuisance to the government of his state. As there is no world state, I cannot do this. On the other hand, I can be, and am, a nuisance to the government of India, which has the merit of permitting a good deal of criticism, though it reacts to it rather slowly. I also happen to be proud of being a citizen of India, which is a lot more diverse than Europe, let alone the U.S.A, the U.S.S.R or China, and thus a better model for a possible world organisation. It may of course break up, but it is a wonderful experiment. So, I want to be labeled as a citizen of India.<ref name=":7" /></blockquote>

=== Personal life ===

Haldane was married twice, first to [[Charlotte Haldane|Charlotte Franken]] and then to [[Helen Spurway]].<ref>[https://www.bmj.com/content/2/5423/1536 "J.S.B. Haldane"], Obituary Notices, ''Br Med J'', 1964;2:1536.</ref> In 1924, Haldane met Charlotte Franken, who was a journalist for the ''[[Daily Express]]'' and married to Jack Burghes. Following the publication of Haldane's ''Daedalus, or Science and the Future'', she interviewed Haldane and they began a relationship.<ref name=":4" /> In order to marry Haldane, Franken filed a divorce suit, which resulted in controversy as Haldane was involved as co-respondent in the legal proceeding.<ref name=":5" /> Additionally, as [[Sahotra Sarkar]] reported: "For her to secure a divorce, Haldane overtly committed adultery with her".<ref name=":8" /> Haldane's conduct was described as "gross immorality", for which he was formally dismissed by Cambridge's Sex Viri (a six-member disciplinary committee) from the university in 1925. Cambridge professors, including [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Bertrand Russell]], and W. L. George, raised their defence for Haldane insisting that the university should not make such judgements, based solely on a professor's private life.<ref name=":1" /> The ouster was revoked in 1926. Haldane and Charlotte Franken were married in 1926. Following their separation in 1942, they divorced in 1945. Later that year he married [[Helen Spurway]], his former PhD student.<ref>GRO marriage register Dec 1945 Pancras</ref> He also had an affair with [[Angel Records]] founder [[Dorle Soria]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-15 |title=Book Review: "Master Lovers" -- An Inventive and Intelligent Fictional Memoir - The Arts Fuse |url=https://artsfuse.org/285776/book-review-master-lovers-an-inventive-and-intelligent-fictional-memoir/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=artsfuse.org/ |language=en-US}}</ref>

Haldane once boasted about himself, saying, "I can read 11 languages and make public speeches in three; but am unmusical. I am a fairly competent public speaker."<ref name=":1" /> He had no children,<ref name=":1" /> but he and his father were important influences to his sister Naomi's children, of whom [[Denis Mitchison]], [[Murdoch Mitchison]], and [[Avrion Mitchison]] became professors of biology at the [[University of London]], [[Edinburgh University]], and University College London, respectively.<ref name=":0" />

Inspired by his father, Haldane often used self-experimentation and would expose himself to danger in order to obtain data. To test the effects of acidification of the blood he drank dilute [[hydrochloric acid]], enclosed himself in an airtight room containing 7% carbon dioxide, and found that it 'gives one a rather violent headache'. One experiment to study elevated levels of [[oxygen saturation]] triggered a fit that resulted in his suffering crushed [[vertebrae]].<ref name="jobling2">{{cite journal|author=Jobling MA|year=2012|title=The unexpected always happens|journal=Investigative Genetics|volume=3|issue=1|page=5|doi=10.1186/2041-2223-3-5|pmc=3298498|pmid=22357349 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In his [[decompression chamber]] experiments, he and his volunteers suffered [[perforated eardrum]]s. But, as Haldane stated in ''What is Life'',<ref>{{cite archive|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8631282|title=What is Life|author=J. B. S. Haldane|date=1947|publisher=Boni and Gaer|collection=Stephen Jay Gould Collection|collection-url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/sp673gr4168|institution=[[Stanford University]]|repository=Stanford Library|item-id=Q171 .H1565 1947|type=book|location=[[Palo Alto, California]]}}</ref> "the drum generally heals up; and if a hole remains in it, although one is somewhat deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke out of the ear in question, which is a social accomplishment".<ref name=Bryson2003>{{cite book|last=Bryson|first= Bill|author-link=Bill Bryson|title=A Short History Of Nearly Everything|edition= 1st|location= New York|publisher= Broadway Books|date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CWlKRYLbIwC&pg=PT149|page=149|isbn=978-0-385-67450-8}}</ref>

Haldane made himself unpopular among his colleagues from the start of his academic career. In Cambridge, he annoyed most of the senior faculty due to his uninhibited behaviour, particularly at dinner. His partisan, [[Edgar Adrian]] (a [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|1932 Nobel]] laureate), had almost convinced [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] to offer him an appointment as a Fellow, but that was ruined by an incident when Haldane arrived at the dining table carrying a gallon jar of urine from his laboratory.<ref name=":8" />

=== Later life and death ===
In the autumn of 1963, Haldane visited the US for a series of scientific conferences. At the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]], [[Sewall Wright]] introduced him before his speech, noting many of Haldane's achievements, after which Haldane modestly remarked that the introduction would have been more accurate if all the references to "Haldane" were replaced with "Wright".<ref name=":3" /> In Florida, he met, for the first and only time, the Russian biochemist [[Alexander Oparin]], who had developed an [[primordial soup|origin of life theory]] quite independent of his own in the 1920s. It was while there that he started feeling abdominal pains.<ref name=":8" />

Haldane went to London for a diagnosis. He was found to have [[colorectal cancer]], and had a surgery in February 1964. Around that time Philip Dally was making a BBC documentary about eminent living scientists, which included Sewall Wright and the double Nobel laureate [[Linus Pauling]]. Dally's team approached Haldane at the hospital for the documentary profile, but instead of a filmed interview, Haldane gave them a self-obituary,<ref name=":13">{{Cite news|last=Sear|first=Richard|date=2 December 1964|title=Obituary on TV — by man who died|page=1|work=Daily Mirror|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19641202/001/0001|access-date=12 September 2021}}</ref> the opening lines of which run:<blockquote>I am going to begin with a boast. I believe that I am one of the [originally as "I am the most"] most influential people living today, although I haven't got a scrap of power. Let me explain. In 1932 I was the first person to estimate the rate of mutation of a human gene.<ref name=":8" /></blockquote>He also wrote a comic poem while in the hospital, mocking his own incurable disease. It was read by his friends, who appreciated the consistent irreverence with which Haldane had lived his life. The poem first appeared in print on 21 February 1964 issue of the ''[[New Statesman]]'', and runs:<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Dronamraju |first1 = K. |title = J. B. S. Haldane's last years: his life and work in India (1957–1964) |journal = Genetics |year = 2010 |volume = 185 |issue = 1 |pages = 5–10 |doi = 10.1534/genetics.110.116632 |pmid = 20516291 |pmc = 2870975 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Hesketh |first1 = Robin |title = Betrayed by Nature: The War on Cancer |year = 2012 |publisher = Palgrave Macmillan |location = New York (US) |isbn=978-0-230-34192-0 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/betrayedbynature0000hesk/page/237 237]–238 |url=https://archive.org/details/betrayedbynature0000hesk |url-access = registration |df = dmy-all }}</ref>

{{poemquote|
''Cancer's a Funny Thing'':
I wish I had the voice of Homer
To sing of rectal carcinoma,
This kills a lot more chaps, in fact,
Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked&nbsp;...}}
The poem ends:
{{poemquote|
...&nbsp;I know that cancer often kills,
But so do cars and sleeping pills;
And it can hurt one till one sweats,
So can bad teeth and unpaid debts.
A spot of laughter, I am sure,
Often accelerates one's cure;
So let us patients do our bit
To help the surgeons make us fit.}}

He willed that his body be used for medical research and instruction at the [[Rangaraya Medical College]], [[Kakinada]].<ref name=vigyan /><ref name=":14">{{Cite web |last=Nayeem |first=K. Javeed |date=2022-11-20 |title=J.B.S. Haldane: Distinguished yet Disillusioned! |url=https://starofmysore.com/j-b-s-haldane-distinguished-yet-disillusioned/ |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=Star of Mysore |language=en-US}}</ref> 
[[File:Haldane Museum.jpg|thumb|Haldane Museum Located in Rangaraya Medical College]]
{{blockquote |quote = My body has been used for both purposes during my lifetime and after my death, whether I continue to exist or not, I shall have no further use for it, and desire that it shall be used by others. Its refrigeration, if this is possible, should be a first charge on my estate.<ref>{{cite book |last = Murty |first = K. Krishna |title = Spice in science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXaqNB2V6RcC |access-date = 1 February 2011 |year = 2005 |publisher = Pustak Mahal |location = Delhi |isbn=978-81-223-0900-3 |page = 68 |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921142110/http://books.google.com/books?id=jXaqNB2V6RcC |archive-date = 21 September 2014 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>}}His surgery in London was declared successful. But the symptoms reappeared after returning to India in June, and in August, the Indian doctors confirmed that his condition was terminal. Writing to [[John Maynard Smith]] on 7 September, he said, "I am not appreciably upset by the prospect of dying fairly soon. But I am very angry [at the English doctor who performed the operation]."<ref name=":8" />

He died on 1 December 1964 in [[Bhubaneswar]]. On that day the BBC broadcast his self-obituary as "Professor J.B.S. Haldane, obituary."<ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Boon|first=Timothy|date=2015|title='The televising of science is a process of television': establishing Horizon, 1962–1967|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25833799|journal=British Journal for the History of Science|volume=48|issue=1|pages=87–121|doi=10.1017/S0007087414000405|jstor=43820569|pmid=25833799|s2cid=206212519}}</ref> Following his will, his body was moved to Kakinada where Vissa Ramachandra Rao performed post-mortem and preservation of his body parts. His skeleton and organs are on display to the public in the Haldane Museum, located in the pathology department of Rangaraya Medical College.<ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-03-07 |title=Biju Patnaik and JBS Haldane..... {{!}} |url=https://odishabarta.com/biju-patnaik-and-jbs-haldane/ |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=odishabarta |language=en-US}}</ref>