John Waterlow

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John Waterlow
Scientific career
Fieldsphysiology

John Conrad Waterlow (13 June 1916 – 19 October 2010) was a British

physiologist who specialised in childhood malnutrition.[1] Waterlow was born into a well known London printing family. Whilst growing up, the family home was often visited by the likes of EM Forster and Virginia Woolf.[2]

Education

Waterlow was educated at

first class degree in physiology and went on to qualify as a doctor in 1942 having studied at the London Hospital Medical College, during which much time was spent treating casualties of The Blitz.[1]

Career

After qualifying as a doctor, he was attached to the

fatty livers, but was unsure why this was the case.[3] To investigate the cases, he made a microbalance using the newly invented adhesive Araldite, to weigh 2 mg samples of liver tissue and also a microrespirometer to measure the enzyme activity in the samples. The microrespirometer is said to have been much more sensitive than those used by other biochemists at the time[4] and the microbalance was sensitive to within one millionth of a gram.[3] He subsequently discovered that the syndrome he was observing was the same as Kwashiorkor which had been described a few years earlier in Africa. Waterlow set about investigating the biochemical basis of Kwashiorkor, both in the West Indies and at several field stations in Africa.[1] He was the founding editor of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.[5] He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1982.[6]

Whilst in the Caribbean he established 'The Tropical Metabolism Research Unit' at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.[2]

Written work

Waterlow wrote extensively during the course of his career, but perhaps his most famous works include:

'Protein turnover in mammalian tissues and in the whole body'- (1978)- JC Waterlow, P.J Garlick and D.J Millward.[7]

'Protein-energy malnutrition: the nature and extent of the problem'- (1992)- JC Waterlow.[8]

Personal life

Waterlow was the son of Sir Sydney Waterlow, a British diplomat and Helen Eckhard who was from a well off family of German immigrants living in Manchester. In 1939 he married Angela Grey who was a history student at Cambridge University and they later went on to have two sons and one daughter;[1] Sarah, Oliver and Dick.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e G Rickey Welch and Sir John Meurig Thomas (29 November 2010). "Professor John Waterlow: Physiologist celebrated for his achievements in the field of childhood malnutrition". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  2. ^ a b c Millward, Joe (15 November 2010). "John Waterlow obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Science Obituaries – Professor John Waterlow". The Daily Telegraph. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  4. ^ a b Joe Millward (15 November 2010). "John Waterlow obituary: Pioneering researcher into the treatment of malnourished children". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  5. PMID 21206503
    .
  6. ^ Millward, D. Joe (2018). "John Conrad Waterlow. 13 June 1916—19 October 2010". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2018.0010
  7. ^ Conrad Waterlow, John; J Garlick, Peter; Millward, D.J (31 January 2018). "Protein turnover in mammalian tissues and in the whole body / J.C. Waterlow, P.J. Garlick and D.J. Millward". SERBIULA (Sistema Librum 2.0).
  8. PMID 16844615
    .

External links