Francis William Rogers Brambell (25 February 1901 – 6 June 1970) was an Irish medical scientist who spent all of his professional working life in Britain.

Education

Brambell was born in Sandycove, Dublin and was educated (1911–1914) at Aravon School and then privately, specializing in zoology. He entered Trinity College Dublin with an Entrance Prize in natural science. In 1920 Brambell won a Foundation Scholarship and in 1922 he graduated B.A. with Senior Moderatorship and gold medal in natural sciences, and was awarded a postgraduate Fellowship prize. During his first degree he was taught by some distinguished scientists including Professors Henry Horatio Dixon FRS, John Joly FRS, and

James Brontë Gatenby James Brontë Gatenby (10 October 1892 – 20 July 1960) was a zoologist notable for his work on the structure of cells and the Golgi bodies. Background Gatenby was born in Wanganui, New Zealand. He progressed from St. Patrick's College in Welli ...

. After graduation he worked in cytology under Professor

, gained his BSc (subsequently transformed into MSc) in 1923, and his PhD in 1924 (this was the first PhD of Trinity College Dublin). In 1924 he was awarded a Science Research Scholarship for the Exhibition of 1851. Owing to the formation of the Irish Free State, Irish graduates had become eligible for the overseas awards of the commission.

Career

Brambell was appointed Lloyd Roberts Professor and Head of th
Department of Zoology
at

Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...

in 1930 at age 29 years. From that time until his retirement 38 years later, he brought great distinction to his Department and College. He was the father of the field of transmission of immunity. As part of his quantitative and temporal studies on transmission, he defined the first Fc receptor system for IgG, and furthermore recognized the link between transmission of passive immunity from mother to young and protection from

catabolism Catabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that breaks down molecules into smaller units that are either oxidized to release energy or used in other anabolic reactions. Catabolism breaks down large molecules (such as polysaccharides, lipids, ...

via IgG. Brambell wrote ''Antibodies and Embryos'' with W. A. Hemmings and M. Henderson in 1951. Brambell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March, 1949 and won their

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

in 1964 "In recognition of his important contribution to our understanding of the passage of protein from maternal to foetal circulations". In 1965, Brambell lead the UK governmental committee that authored The Five Freedoms, a document asserting the five essential freedom to guarantee quality of life for animals under human control.

Personal life

He died on 6 June 1970. He had married Margaret L. Adgie in 1927.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brambell, Francis 1901 births 1970 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners Scholars of Trinity College Dublin