Edward Fawcett (18 May 1867 – September 1942[a]) was a British anatomist and embryologist, known for his research into the mammalian skeleton, particularly the skull and its developmental precursor structure, the chondrocranium.
[1][3] This research used larger-than-life-sized reconstructions in wax, based on observing consecutive cross-sections under the microscope, a technique developed by the Swiss anatomist, Wilhelm His.
[1][5][7] He published on the skeleton of Patrick Cotter, a man buried in Bristol whom he diagnosed as having had acromegalic gigantism,[1] as well as on his examinations of various archeological finds of human bones.
[1][3] The society surveyed Aveline's Hole in Burrington Combe, Somerset, finding fossils, tools and human and animal bones; it established a museum at the department of anatomy, which was also destroyed by air-raids.
[6] The anatomist J. M. Yoffey describes his research, in an obituary for Nature, as representing "fundamental and extensive contributions" to knowledge of the anatomy of the mammalian chondrocranium.
[3] The anatomist Arthur Keith, in his Royal Society obituary, writes that Fawcett's goal was to "provide accurate data to serve as a foundation for generalizations", rather than himself drawing conclusions,[1] and Yoffey characterises his research as displaying an "unremitting attention to detail".
[1][3][7] He became an expert on medieval mouldings and ornament, and was particularly interested in ecclesiastical depictions of the royal arms, anthropophagous stone statues on church exteriors, and the historical development of the chair.