- Ernest Baldwin
Ernest Hubert Francis Baldwin (
March 29 ,1909 –December 7 ,1969 ) was an English biochemist, textbook author and pioneer in the field ofcomparative biochemistry .Born in
Gloucester , Baldwin attended theCrypt Grammar School followed bySt. John's College, Cambridge . He completed thenatural sciences tripos , specialising inbiochemistry for Part II. He won aRoyal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 scholarship for 1933-1935, remaining at Cambridge to study biochemistry. His main influence there was the eminent biochemistFrederick Gowland Hopkins ; he also worked withJoseph Needham andDorothy Needham .S. P. Datta. " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51705 Baldwin, Ernest Hubert Francis (1909–1969), biochemist] ", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed October 3, 2007.]In 1937, inspired by the broad biochemical interests of Hopkins and the Needhams, Baldwin published "An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry", an influential introductory textbook that went through four editions, the last in 1964. By 1946 Baldwin had advanced to the position of lecturer in biochemistry at Cambridge. In 1947, he published the first edition (of five) of "Dynamic Aspects of Biochemistry", a widely-used (and translated) textbook that won the 1952
European Cortina-Ulisse Prize . Baldwin's research at St. John's from 1940 to 1949 focused on the roundworm "Ascaris lumbricoides ". He also spent the summer of 1948 at theMarine Biological Laboratory , studyingphosphagen in invertebrates. [National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scienitsts, The Library, Bath University, " [http://www.bath.ac.uk/ncuacs/guideb.htm#EHFBaldwin Guide to the manuscript papers of British scientists: B] ". Accessed October 5, 2007.]In 1950, Baldwin moved to
University College, London , as chair of biochemistry. In addition to developing a biochemistry curriculum and managing new laboratory facilities, Baldwin's main areas of research at University College were comparative biochemistry, particularly in relation tonitrogen metabolism andureotelic metabolism . His work was well regarded, especially abroad, and he held visiting professorships at theScripps Institution of Oceanography and theUniversity of Kansas .Ernest Baldwin married Pauline Mary Edwards in 1933. They had two children: Nicola and Nigel St. John. Baldwin died of
congestive heart failure in 1969, after a prolonged struggle withmyotonic muscular dystrophy .List of works
* "An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry" (1937). Second edition, 1940; third edition 1948; fourth edition, 1964.
* "Dynamic Aspects of Biochemistry" (1947).
* "The Nature of Biochemistry" (1947).References
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