Henry Matthew Adam
{{short description|British physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Henry Matthew Adam
| birth_date = 11 May 1911
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2004|06|18|1911|05|11|df=y}}
| birth_place = London, England
| alma_mater = University of Edinburgh
(MB–ChB)
| fields = Pharmacology
}}
Henry Matthew Adam FRSE (11 May 1911 – 18 June 2004) was a British physician and pharmacologist. Earlier known for research on chemical and biological warfare, he is now mainly remembered for his research on histamines and their role in the body, especially its role in digestion.
Early life and education
Adam was born in London on 11 May 1911. At this time his parents were on route from Moscow to Rome and he spent his childhood in numerous European cities including Rome, Manchester and Madrid. From 1926 the family settled in Edinburgh and there he attended George Watson's College.Scotsman (newspaper) 7 July 2004
He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MB ChB in 1935. Following his graduation he undertook postgraduate research at the University.
Career
During World War II, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. In 1942 he was moved Porton Down to undertake research. Late in 1944 he was seconded to the Scientific Intelligence section of the US Army and was one of the first scientific officers to enter the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. In this exercise he was to "rescue" (from the Russians) and interview the German scientists who had been working on the artificial infection of the typhus virus through selected prisoners.BMJ July 2004
After the war he began lecturing in Pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh under Sir John Gaddum. He declined various offers of professorship in England and the United States, preferring to stay in Edinburgh, but was never offered a professorship there.
In 1954 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=4 February 2020|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Adam was also the longtime editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology.
Personal life
In 1940, he married biologist/zoologist Katherine Mary Galbraith Fleming. He died from colon cancer on 18 June 2004.Scotsman (newspaper) 7 July 2004
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Henry Matthew}}
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School
Category:British pharmacologists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers
Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United Kingdom