Alexander R. Todd

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sir Robert Robinson
Doctoral studentsJ. Rodney Quayle

Alexander Robertus Todd, Baron Todd

Nobel Prize for Chemistry
in 1957.

Early life and education

Todd was born in Cathcart in outer Glasgow, the son of Alexander Todd, a clerk with the Glasgow Subway, and his wife, Jane Lowry.[2]

He attended Allan Glen's School and graduated from the University of Glasgow with a bachelor's degree in 1928. He received a doctorate from Goethe University Frankfurt in 1931 for his thesis on the chemistry of the bile acids.

Todd was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851,[3] and, after studying at Oriel College, Oxford, he gained another doctorate in 1933.

Career

Todd held posts with the

Lister Institute, the University of Edinburgh (staff, 1934–1936) and the University of London, where he was appointed Reader
in biochemistry.

In 1938, Alexander Todd spent six months as a visiting professor at

Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry and director of the Chemical Laboratories of the University of Manchester in 1938, where he began working on nucleosides, compounds that form the structural units of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA
).

In 1944, he was appointed to the

1702 Chair of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge, which he held until his retirement in 1971.[6] In 1949, he synthesised adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Todd served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago in Autumn 1948[7] and University of Sydney in 1950.[4][8][9]

In 1955, he helped elucidate the structure of

alkaloids found in cannabis. He served as chairman of the Government of the United Kingdom's advisory committee on scientific policy
from 1952 to 1964.

He is credited as the first person to synthesize H4-CBD and H2-CBD from Cannabidiol by hydrogenation as early as 1940.[10]

He was elected a

President of the Royal Society from 1975 to 1980 and became a member of the Order of Merit in 1977.[14]

In 1981, Todd became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.[15]

Personal life and death

In 1937, Todd married Alison Sarah Dale (d.1987), daughter of Nobel Prize winner Sir

Royal Society of London
. They had a son, Alexander Henry, and two daughters, Helen Jean and Hilary Alison.

Todd died in Cambridge on 10 January 1997 at the age of 89 following a heart attack.

Honours

Todd was honoured as a Nieuwland Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame in 1948,[16] an Arthur D. Little Visiting Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954,[4][17] and a Hitchcock Lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, in 1957.[4][18]

He was

County of Cambridge on 16 April 1962.[20]

He is commemorated by a blue plaque erected by the Royal Society of Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge.[citation needed]

Coat of arms of Alexander R. Todd
Crest
In front of an open book Proper bound Or a fox passant guardant Gules.
Escutcheon
Gules a chevron between in chief two foxes' masks and in base a serpent embowed biting the tail Or.
Supporters
Dexter an ounce and sinister a fox each sable bezanty and gorged with a ducal coronet with chain reflexed over the back Or pendant from the coronet by a like chain an escutcheon blue celeste.
Motto
Faire Sans Dire [21]

Bibliography

  • Todd, Alexander (3 December 2009). A Time to Remember. Cambridge University Press.
    ISBN 978-0-521-12673-1
    .

See also

References

  1. S2CID 73076704
    .
  2. JSTOR 770414
    .
  3. ^ 1851 Royal Commission Archives
  4. ^ a b c d "Lord Todd – Biographical". www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-028161-8
    .
  6. ISBN 0-521-82873-2
    , Chapter 9: Alexander Todd, p 233
  7. ISBN 0-521-25593-7
    .
  8. PMID 17988213
    .
  9. ^ "ChemNEWS (FACULTY OF SCIENCE)" (PDF). The University of Sydney.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1940/jr/jr9400000649
  11. ^ "Alexander R. Todd of Trumpington". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Alexander Robertus Todd". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  13. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  14. ^ "No. 47362". The London Gazette. 28 October 1977. p. 13613.
  15. ^ "About Us". World Cultural Council. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  16. OCLC 6142088
    .
  17. ^ "Postdoc T.Y. Shen Honors his Wife | MIT Department of Chemistry". chemistry.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Nucleotide Co-Enzymes: A Study in Synthesis | Berkeley Graduate Lectures". gradlectures.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  19. ^ "No. 40227". The London Gazette. 9 July 1954. p. 4026.
  20. ^ "No. 42651". The London Gazette. 17 April 1962. p. 3185.
  21. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1973.

Further reading


External links

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Academic offices
Preceded by
Cambridge University

1944–1972 		Succeeded by
Preceded by 32nd Master of Christ's College, Cambridge
1963–1978 		Succeeded by
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin
 54th President of the Royal Society
1975–1980 		Succeeded by
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