Andrew Huxley

Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917–2012), grandson of 'Darwin's Bulldog' Thomas Henry Huxley and half-brother of novelist Aldous Huxley, possessed an extraordinary mathematical and mechanical mind, personally designing the high-precision micro-manipulators and interference microscopes used in his research.

Alongside Alan Hodgkin, Huxley calculated the numerical integration of the action potential differential equations by hand on a mechanical Brunsviga calculator in 1952. In 1954, using his custom interference microscope, Huxley co-discovered that muscle contraction occurs when actin and myosin filaments slide past each other without shortening, solving the riddle of muscular motion.