Ernest Arthur Bell CB (20 June 1926 – 11 June 2006) was an English botanist and chemist who was Director of the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

from 1981 to 1988, the first biochemist to be appointed to the post.

Early life

Arthur Bell was born at

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2001, it had a populati ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

and was educated at

Dame Allan's School Dame Allan's Schools is a collection of independent day schools in Fenham, in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It comprises a coeducational junior school, single-sex senior schools and a coeducational sixth form. Founded in 1705 a ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. He took a degree in Chemistry at Durham University and was awarded a doctorate at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1950.

Professional career

Bell started his career at ICI in 1946, as a research chemist. In 1947 he took up a research post at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1949 he became a lecturer in Biochemistry at King's College London, where he became Professor of Biology and head of the Department of Plant Sciences in 1972. He was vice-president of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

from 1982 to 1986.

Honours

He was appointed a

Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as on ...

in 1987. In 1990 he was made an honorary fellow of Trinity College Dublin.

Personal life

He married Jean Ogilvie in 1952 and they had three children together – two sons and a daughter.

Death

He died at St George's Hospital,

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre- Saxon times ...

in 2006, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Ernest Arthur 1926 births 2006 deaths 20th-century British botanists 20th-century British chemists Academics of King's College London Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Botanists active in Kew Gardens Companions of the Order of the Bath English biochemists English botanists Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Imperial Chemical Industries people People from Newcastle upon Tyne (district) Alumni of King's College, Newcastle