Hugh Falconer MD FRS (29 February 1808 – 31 January 1865[1]) was a Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist, and paleoanthropologist.

He studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam, Burma, and most of the Mediterranean islands and was the first to suggest the modern evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium.

[2] During this period he zealously attended the botanical classes of Prof. R. Graham (1786–1845), and those on geology by Prof. Robert Jameson, the teacher of Charles Darwin.

Early in 1831 he was posted to the army station at Meerut, India, then in the North Western Provinces, and now in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

With others, he later brought to light a sub-tropical fossil fauna of unexampled extent and richness, including remains of Mastodon, the colossal ruminant Sivatherium, and the enormous extinct tortoise Colossochelys atlas.

For these valuable discoveries he and Proby Cautley (1802–1871) together received the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London, its highest award, in 1837.

He brought back 70 large chests of dried plants and 48 cases of fossils, bones and geological specimens.

Turning to the subject of human origins, he reported on the bone caves of Sicily, Malta, Gibraltar, Gower, and Brixham.

Although suffering from exposure and overwork, Falconer returned hastily from Gibraltar to support Charles Darwin's claim to the Copley Medal in 1864.

Falconer's botanical notes, with 450 coloured drawings of Indian plants, were deposited in the library at Kew Gardens, together with some of the specimens he collected.

A competitive Falconer scholarship of £100 per year was created for graduates in science or medicine of the University of Edinburgh.