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Post-war Activities. Recognition and Honours

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Holding Hands with Bacteria

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science ((BRIESFHISTCHEM))

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Abstract

After Hopkins’ retirement in 1943, A.C. Chibnall, Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College, was appointed head of the Department of Biochemistry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In 1946 the Rockefeller Foundation gave the Department a grant of total $ 9500 to build two “huts”—the “Bug Hut” and the “Protein Hut”, “with the proviso that the equipment be bought in the United States” [5, p. 82].

  2. 2.

    For some details on the preparation of construction see [6].

  3. 3.

    According to [7], Tosic, researcher from Yugoslavia, was at the Unit only from August 1949. This is a mistake since MS mentions in her letter to Elsden written on 11 March 1947 that Tosic left for Edinburgh. However, Stephenson's remark hints that Tosic might have been in the “Bug Hut” only shortly.

  4. 4.

    That time he was Ph.D. student of J.F. Danielli [8].

  5. 5.

    Mitchell became known not only for his scientific achievements, but also by his non-traditional way of life as independent researcher in his private laboratory built in a mansion in Cornwall. His only co-workers were the biochemist Jennifer Moyle (born 1921) and one technician [8].

  6. 6.

    Jennifer Moyle was a biochemist, sister of another biochemist Vivian Moyle. She came to work with Stephenson in 1947 as follows from Stephenson’s letter to Elsden dated 11 March 1947: “I have a sister of Miss Moyle for my assistant and could ask nothing better” [9].

  7. 7.

    Roger Y. Stanier (1916–1982) [11, 12].

  8. 8.

    Sir Henry Hallett Dale (1875–1868), British pharmacologist and physiologist, 1936 Nobel Prize Winner. H.H. Dale was at that time President of the Royal Society and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet.

  9. 9.

    The letter belongs among the correspondence reprinted in [13]; the documents reflect the complexity of one year lasting negotiations.

  10. 10.

    Woods [18, p. 383] refers to a paper of Stephenson and Moyle published in the Biochemical Journal in 1949, but I could not find it in any number.

  11. 11.

    Kathleen Lonsdale (1903–1971) was a crystallographer, pupil of W.H. Bragg, first woman tenured professor at the University College London. She was a pioneer in the use of X-rays to study crystals.

  12. 12.

    John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892–1964), British physiologist, geneticist, evolutionary biologist and mathematician, one of the greatest thinkers of his time.

  13. 13.

    Wladimir Alexandrowitch Engelhardt (1894–1984), foremost Russian biochemist, whose studied led to the concept of ATP as universal source of energy in the cell.

  14. 14.

    Bert Cyril James Gabriel Knight 1904–1981, British microbiologist known for his work on bacterial nutrition and as the editor of the Journal of General Microbiology.

  15. 15.

    John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971), British scientist, pioneer in x-ray crystallography and molecular biology, philosopher and thinker with controversial political positions.

  16. 16.

    Albert Jan Kluyver (1888–1956), Dutch microbiologist and biochemist. More on him in the next chapter.

  17. 17.

    Marc-Henri Van Laer (1893–1951), Belgian microbiologist involved in research into fermentation.

  18. 18.

    Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot (1886–1970), French physician, grandson of Loius Pasteur, his biographer and editor of his complete works.

  19. 19.

    Underlined by Stephenson.

  20. 20.

    Elsden was at the time working in America. See also [25] where she talks about the biochemistry teaching as “disaster”.

  21. 21.

    Nickname of Dorothy Needham.

  22. 22.

    Malcolm Dixon (1899–1985), British biochemist.

  23. 23.

    Albert Chibnall.

  24. 24.

    Joseph Needham was since 1942 in China as the Director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office.

  25. 25.

    Alexander R. Todd (1907–1997) organic chemist, Nobel Prize Winner 1957.

  26. 26.

    Chibnall resigned from the chair in 1949; the official reason was that he wanted to concentrate more on research, but apparently he was disinterested in the concept of dynamic biochemistry as coined by Hopkins and could not offer a new one instead [1, pp. 427–428].

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  1. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

    Soňa Štrbáňová

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Štrbáňová, S. (2016). Post-war Activities. Recognition and Honours. In: Holding Hands with Bacteria. SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49736-4_6

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