Sir Paul Fildes | |
|---|---|
_Luke_Fildes.jpg) Paul Fildes, as painted by his father,Luke Fildes in 1919 | |
| Born | Paul Gordon Fildes (1882-02-10)10 February 1882 |
| Died | 5 February 1971(1971-02-05) (aged 88) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society[1] Royal Medal(1953) Copley Medal(1963) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Sir Paul Gordon FildesOBE FRS (10 February 1882 – 5 February 1971) was a Britishpathologist andmicrobiologist who worked on the development of chemical-biological weaponry atPorton Down during theSecond World War.[2][3][4]
Fildes was born inKensington,London, the son of the artist SirLuke Fildes and great grandson of reformistMary Fildes, Paul attendedWinchester School and then studied surgery atTrinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained anMB BCh degree.
Fildes served as alieutenant-commander in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve, stationed at theRoyal Naval Hospital Haslar (1915–19) during theFirst World War. In 1919 he was made anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire.
After working at theLondon Hospital as an assistant bacteriologist, he moved in 1934 to work at theMiddlesex Hospital. He was also elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1934.[1]In 1940 he helped Donald D. Woods discover howsulphonamides worked.
He was a member of the scientific staff,Medical Research Council (1934–49).
Fildes asserted that he assisted withOperation Anthropoid the assassination of top NaziReinhard Heydrich in Prague by providing theCzech agents of theSpecial Operations Executive with modifiedNo. 73 Grenades filled withbotulin toxin.[5] The story has been met with scepticism, given the absence of any indication that Heydrich displayed any of the highly distinctive symptoms ofbotulism.[6]
In 1940 Fildes was put in charge of a newly created department, the Biology Department, Porton (BDP) atPorton Down to study the defensive implications of a bacterial attack and there built up a team of microbiologists to study the use of biological weapons, including anthrax and botulinum toxin. An early project was the creation of a stockpile of a million anthrax impregnated cattle cakes to be used in a possible retaliatory attack. In 1942 it famously carried out tests of an anthrax bio-weapon developed at Porton Down atGruinard Island.[7] He also assisted with theanthrax strain tests onGruinard Island, performing necropsies on the bodies of anthrax-exposed sheep, to determine if they had died as a direct result of anthrax poisoning. This work produced the world's first working anthrax bomb in the summer of 1942.[8]
At the end of the war he returned to university life and handed over control of the department to his deputyDavid Henderson, who oversaw the building of a new purpose designed laboratory facility and the creation of the autonomousMicrobiological Research Department. He was knighted in the1946 New Year Honours.[9]
After the war Fildes worked at theSir William Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford, headed by Nobel Prize winner SirHoward Florey, to study on the biochemistry of bacteriophage T1 (and to a lesser extent, T2) multiplication.[10]
Fildes received theCopley Medal in 1963 from the Royal Society.
He was the author of works onhaemophilia andsyphilis.
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