James Baddiley | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1918-05-15)15 May 1918 Manchester, England |
| Died | 19 November 2008(2008-11-19) (aged 90) Cambridge, England |
| Education | Manchester Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Manchester University (PhD, 1944) |
| Known for | Discoverer ofTeichoic acids |
| Awards | Meldola Medal (1947) Corday-Morgan Medal (1952) Tilden Medal (1959) Davy Medal (1974) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry Organic Chemistry |
| Institutions | Wenner-Gren Institute Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine Newcastle University |
Sir James Baddiley FRS FRSE (15 May 1918, inManchester – 17 November 2008, inCambridge) was a Britishbiochemist.[1]
Baddiley was born and brought up in Manchester. His father was director of research at theICI dyestuffs division inBlackley. He attendedManchester Grammar School andManchester University in 1937 to read chemistry obtaining aBSc andMSc.[2] He was accepted as aPhD student by theNobel prizewinnerAlexander Todd.[1]
Todd's group did fundamental work on the chemistry ofnucleosides,nucleotides andnucleic acids. This formed the base for subsequent work on the role of these compounds in cell biology andheredity.[1]
In 1944 he moved with Todd toCambridge University and was awarded an ICI research fellowship. His work culminated in the first synthesis ofadenosine triphosphate (ATP).[3]
He then joined the Wenner-Gren Institute (now theWenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research) inStockholm with a fellowship from the Swedish Medical Research Council. Later at theLister Institute in London he established the structure of severalnucleotidecoenzymes, in particularcoenzyme A (CoA). He then attendedHarvard with a Rockefeller fellowship.
From 1954 to 1977 he was Professor of Organic Chemistry atKing's College, University of Durham, now part ofNewcastle University. From 1975 to 1983 he was Professor of Chemical Microbiology at Newcastle where he established theMicrobiological Chemistry Research Laboratory (MCRL). The focus of his work was the biosynthesis, structure and biological function of various biochemical compounds, especially the discovery ofteichoic acids, major components of cell wall structure of gram-positive bacteria.[1]
In 1981, Baddiley became a founding member of theWorld Cultural Council.[4]
After Newcastle he was awarded a senior research fellowship by theScience and Engineering Research Council, and moved to the biochemistry department at Cambridge. This led to the establishment of theInstitute of Biotechnology of which he was the first chairman and he was also appointed a fellow ofPembroke College, Cambridge.
In 1961 he became aFellow of the Royal Society and in 1963 as Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. He was awarded theDavy Medal in 1974 with the citation:In recognition of his distinguished researches on coenzyme A and studies of the constituents of bacterial cell walls. He wasknighted in 1977.[5] Other awards wereDSc (Manchester),ScD (Cantab), and Honorary DSc's fromHeriot-Watt University(1979)[6] and also theUniversity of Bath (1986).[2]
For his work at Newcastle University onteichoic acids, the recently built Baddiley-Clark building (housing bacterial cell biology research) was named in part after him.
In 1944, married Hazel Townsend (d 2007) a textile designer. They had a son, Christopher.
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