David Keilin
{{Short description|British entomologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = David Keilin
|image = David Keilin 1931.jpg
|caption = David Keilin in 1931
|birth_date = {{Birth-date|21 March 1887}}
|birth_place = Moscow
|death_date = {{Death-date and age|27 February 1963|21 March 1887}}
|death_place = Cambridge
|residence =
|citizenship =
|nationality =
|ethnicity =
|field = Entomology and parasitology
|work_institutions = University of Cambridge
|alma_mater = University of Liège
Magdalene College, Cambridge
|doctoral_advisor = George Nuttall{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = Cytochrome
|author_abbrev_bot ={{Botanist|Keilin|Keilin}}
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes = Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Medal (1939)
Copley Medal (1951)
|religion =
|footnotes =
|signature =
}}
David Keilin FRS{{Cite journal | last1 = Mann | first1 = T. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1964.0011 | title = David Keilin. 1887-1963 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 10 | pages = 183–205| year = 1964 | doi-access = free }} (21 March 1887 – 27 February 1963) was a British Jewish scientist focusing mainly on entomology.{{Cite journal
| last1 = Hartree | first1 = E. F.
| title = Obituary Notice: David Keilin (1887-1963)
| journal = The Biochemical Journal
| volume = 89
| pages = 1–5
| year = 1963
| issue = 1
| pmid = 14097361
| pmc = 1202263
| doi=10.1042/bj0890001
}}
Background and education
He was born in Moscow in 1887 and his family returned to Warsaw early in his youth.{{cite book|author=Erling Norrby|title=Nobel Prizes and Notable Discoveries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IU4tDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244|date=6 September 2016|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-314-466-8|pages=244–}} He did not attend school until age ten due to ill health and asthma. Only seven years later, in 1904, he enrolled in the University of Liège. He later studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and became a British citizen.
Career
Keilin became research assistant to George Nuttall, first Quick Professor of Biology at the University of Cambridge, in 1915, and spent the rest of his career there, succeeding Nuttall as Quick Professor and director of the Molteno Institute in 1931. He retired in 1962.
He made extensive contributions to entomology and parasitology during his career. He published thirty-nine papers between 1914 and 1923 on the reproduction of lice, the life-cycle of the horse bot-fly, the respiratory adaptations in fly larvae, and other subjects.
He is most known for his research and rediscovery of cytochrome{{Cite journal | last1 = Ferguson | first1 = S. J. | title = Keilin's Cytochromes: How Bacteria Use Them, Vary Them and Make Them | doi = 10.1042/bst0290629 | journal = Biochemical Society Transactions | volume = 29 | issue = 6 | pages = 629–640 | year = 2001 }} in the 1920s (he invented the name). It had been discovered by C. A. MacMunn in 1884, but that discovery had been forgotten or misunderstood.{{Cite journal|title = The discovery of cytochrome|journal = Biochemical Education|date = 1973-10-01|pages = 69–71|volume = 1|issue = 4|doi = 10.1016/0307-4412(73)90074-5|first = E. F.|last = Hartree}}
Awards and honours
Keilin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1926. He won its Royal Medal in 1939 and its Copley Medal in 1951.
Legacy
The Keilin Memorial Lecture{{Cite web|title=The Keilin Memorial Lecture|url=https://www.biochemistry.org/grants-and-awards/awards/the-keilin-memorial-lecture/}} of the Biochemical Society began in 1964 in his memory, and recipients and the subject of their talk is selected by a committee reflecting Keilin's interests in bioenergetics, electron transfer and mitochondrial biology. A medal with his profile, a financial award and an opportunity for research publication is also awarded. In 2020, the recipient was the University of Cambridge's Prof Judy Hirst.{{Cite web|date=2019-04-01|title=Professor Judy Hirst FRS receives Keilin Memorial Lecture Award|url=https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/professor-judy-hirst-frs-receives-keilin-memorial-lecture-award|access-date=2020-08-16|website=Corpus Christi College University of Cambridge|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Copley Medallists 1951-2000}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keilin, David}}
Category:British parasitologists
Category:British entomologists
Category:Jews from the Russian Empire
Category:Jewish British scientists
Category:University of Liège alumni
Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal
Category:Quick Professors of Biology