Rudolph Peters
{{Short description|British biochemist (1889–1982)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific-prefix = Sir
| name = Rudolph Peters
| image = Rudolph Albert Peters.jpg
| image_size = 240px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1889|4|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kensington
| nationality = British
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1982|1|29|1889|4|13}}
| death_place = Cambridge
| spouse = Frances Williamina Vérel
| field =
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| work_institution =
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| known_for =
| prizes = FRS {{small|(1935)}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Thompson | first1 = R. H. S. | last2 = Ogston | first2 = A. G. | author-link2 = Alexander Ogston| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1983.0018 | title = Rudolph Albert Peters. 13 April 1889 – 29 January 1982 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 29 | pages = 494–523 | year = 1983 | jstor = 769811| doi-access = free }}
Royal Medal {{small|(1949)}}
Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh {{small|(1950)}}
}}
Sir Rudolph Albert Peters MC MID FRS HFRSE FRCP LLD (13 April 1889 – 29 January 1982) was a British biochemist. He led the research team at Oxford who developed British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), an antidote for the chemical warfare agent lewisite. His efforts investigating the mechanism of arsenic war gases were deemed crucial in maintaining battlefield effectiveness.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1136/bmj.284.6315.589 | author = Anon| title = Obituary | journal = BMJ | volume = 284 | issue = 6315 | pages = 589–590 | year = 1982 | s2cid = 220197192}}
Life
He was born in Kensington in London the son of Dr Albert E. D. R. Peters (1863–1945), a physician, and his wife, Agnes Malvina Watts (1867–1950).{{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=17 December 2017|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}}
He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, then studied medicine at King's College London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.'PETERS, Sir Rudolph (Albert)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016
In the First World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as Medical Officer to the 60th Rifles. From 1917 he was attached to the chemical warfare section at Porton Down. After the war he returned to Cambridge University lecturing in biochemistry. In 1923 he was created professor of biochemistry at Oxford University.
After the Second World War, he researched pyruvate metabolism, focussing particularly on the toxicity of fluoroacetate. The fact that fluoroacetate in itself is far less toxic than its metabolite fluorocitrate led him to coin the term "lethal synthesis" which was the title of his Croonian Lecture of 1951.{{Cite journal | last1 = Peters | first1 = R. A. | title = Croonian Lecture: Lethal Synthesis | doi = 10.1098/rspb.1952.0001 | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 139 | issue = 895 | pages = 143–170| year = 1952 | pmid = 14911820 | bibcode = 1952RSPSB.139..143P| s2cid = 84782137 }}
Peters retired from academia in 1954 to establish, at age 65, a new department of biochemistry at the Agricultural Research Council Animal Physiology Unit at Babraham; he retired five years later.{{Cite journal|title=Profile: Sir Rudolph Peters|journal=The New Scientist|volume=7|issue=180|pages=1070–1071|date=28 April 1960}}
He was elected FRS in 1935. In 1940, he received the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 and elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1957.
He died in Cambridge on 29 January 1982, and was cremated there on 4 February.
Some of Sir Rudolph's papers are held at the Bodleian Library.{{Cite web|title=Papers and correspondence of Sir Rudolph Albert Peters, 1889-1982|website=Jisc: Archive Collection|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/501b3521-d19a-3edc-bc91-5da2197275bb|access-date=25 July 2020}}
Family
Peters married Frances Williamina Vérel at the Queen's Park Free Church, Glasgow, on 7 November 1917.National records of Scotland: Statutory registers Marriages 633/B 261) Frances was the daughter of Francis William Vérel, a photographic chemist, and had been at school in Westgate-on-Sea with Peters's sister, Gwendoline.1911 Census They had two sons: Rudolph V (1918–2013),{{Cite web|title=Cornwall, ON, Obituaries: Rudolph Peters|website=yourlifemoments.ca|url=http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/Obituary.asp?oId=699622|access-date=25 July 2020}} and Francis Raymond (1922–2023).{{Cite web|last=Thompson|first=RHS|title=Sir Rudolph Albert Peters b.13 April 1889 d.29 January 1982|website=Royal College of Physicians: Inspiring physicians|url=https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/sir-rudolph-albert-peters|access-date=24 July 2020}}{{Cite web|title=FreeBMD|website=FreeBMD|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/|access-date=25 July 2020}}
References
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Further reading
- {{cite web | url = http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/77.shtml |publisher =Australian Postal History & Social Philately| title =Sir Rudolph Albert Peters, Biochemist (1889–1982)|date =4 April 2023}}
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Category:People from Kensington
Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Category:Alumni of King's College London
Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers
Category:Recipients of the Military Cross