George John Romanes FRS (20 May 1848 – 23 May 1894) was a Canadian-Scots[1] evolutionary biologist and physiologist who laid the foundation of what he called comparative psychology, postulating a similarity of cognitive processes and mechanisms between humans and other animals.

He popularized the term neo-Darwinism, which in the late 19th century was considered as a theory of evolution that focuses on natural selection as the main evolutionary force.

George Romanes was born in Kingston, Canada West (now Ontario), in 1848, the youngest of three children, all boys, in a well-to-do and intellectually cultivated family.

Two years after his birth, his parents moved to Cornwall Terrace in London, United Kingdom, which would set Romanes on the path to a fruitful and lasting relationship with Charles Darwin.

However, his true passion resided elsewhere, and the young Romanes decided to study science, abandoning a prior ambition to become a clergyman like his father.

[3] He studied medicine and physiology, graduating from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge with the degree of BA in 1871,[4] and is commemorated there by a stained glass window in the chapel.

[3] Forging a relationship with Darwin was not difficult for Romanes, who reputedly inherited a "sweetness of temper and calmness of manner" from his father.

Guided by Michael Foster, Romanes continued to work on the physiology of invertebrates at University College London under William Sharpey and Burdon-Sanderson.

A memorial to Romanes exists in the north west corner of Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh on the grave of his parents.

His father, Reverend George Romanes, was a professor at Queens College in Kingston, Canada and taught Greek at the local university until the family moved back to England.

[12] When Romanes attended Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, he entered into an essay contest on the topic of "Christian Prayer considered in relation to the belief that Almighty governs the world by general laws".

After winning the Burney prize, Romanes came to the conclusion that he could no longer be faithful to his Christian religion due to his love and commitment for science.

[14] He had earlier published a book on the subject in general called A Candid Examination of Theism, where he concluded that God's existence was not supported by the evidence, but stated his unhappiness with the fact.

His idea was that variation in reproductive ability, caused mainly by the prevention of inter-crossing with parental forms, was the primary driving force in the production of new species.

[3] Zeller,Peter, "Romanes.Un discepolo di Darwin alla ricerca delle origini del pensiero.Armando Armando Editore, 2007.