Frederick Whatley
{{Short description|English botanist and biochemist (1924–2020)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Frederick Whatley
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
| image = Frederick_Whatley.gif
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1924|01|26}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2020|11|14|1924|01|26}}
| death_place = Buckinghamshire, England
| field = Biochemistry, Botany
| work_institution = University of Oxford
| alma_mater = Selwyn College, Cambridge
| academic_advisors = Robin Hill
| notable_students = Barry Halliwell
| known_for = photosynthesis, ferredoxin, ATP, electron transport
| awards = Nobel Prize (1967, nominated)
}}
Frederick Robert Whatley FRS (26 January 1924 – 14 November 2020) was an English botanist and biochemist who held the title of Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford from 1971 to 1991.{{cite book |title=Reports of the President and of the Treasurer |date=1959 |publisher=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation · |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4_WAAAAMAAJ&q=Frederick+Whatley++january+26+1924 |access-date=13 March 2021}} In 1954, Whatley, Mary Belle Allen and Daniel Israel Arnon discovered photophosphorylation in vitro. In 1967 he was nominated jointly (but unsuccessfully) with Allen and Arnon for a Nobel Prize.
Early life and education
Whatley was born on 26 January 1924,{{cite web |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F66482 |title=Whatley, Frederick Robert (b 1924) Biochemist |publisher=The National Archives |accessdate=14 May 2018 }} and educated at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Whatley completed his BA and doctoral studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge, submitting a thesis titled "Enzyme Systems in the Green Leaf" in 1948."Whatley, Prof. Frederick Robert, (26 Jan. 1924 – 14 Nov. 2020), Sherardian Professor of Botany, Oxford University, 1971–91; Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, since 1971." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 1 December 2007 While no explicit mention of a supervisor was made, Dr R. Hill is thanked for his "helpful advice and criticism during the course of the work". It can be reasonably concluded that Dr R. Hill (Robin Hill) played a supervisory role in Whatley's research, with Hill and Whatley going on to publish their paper "A natural factor catalyzing reduction of methaemoglobin by isolated chloroplasts" in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, in 1952.{{cite journal|last1=Davenport|first1=H|title=A natural factor catalyzing reduction of methaemoglobin by isolated chloroplasts |journal=Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci|date=1952|volume=139|issue=896|pages=346–58|pmid=14920414|ref=Davenport et al., 1952|doi=10.1098/rspb.1952.0017|bibcode=1952RSPSB.139..346D|s2cid=27696478}}{{Cite journal |last=John |first=Philip |date=2022 |title=Frederick Robert Whatley. 26 January 1924 – 14 November 2020 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=74|pages=481–499 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.2022.0021 |s2cid=254070417 |doi-access=free }}
Work
Noted for research in photosynthesis, his early career involved the methaemoglobin reducing factor, later known as ferredoxin. He then worked with leaf mitochondria in Australia, with research involving ATP synthesis. Whatley was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1975.[https://royalsociety.org/people/frederick-whatley-12515/ "Frederick Whatley"], The Royal Society Retrieved on 25 September 2017.
Personal life and death
References
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Category:People educated at Bishop Wordsworth's School
Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge