Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann,
FRS,
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
(1 March 1920 – 22 September 1990) was a British
molecular and
cell biologist
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...
. He was appointed chairman of the BBC, awarded a knighthood and subsequently a life peerage.
Early life
Swann was born in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, the eldest of three children of pathologist Meredith Blake Robson Swann and his wife, Marjorie Dykes.
Swann was educated at
King's College School, Cambridge, and then at
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
, a boarding
independent school
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
for boys in the city of
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, where he was an
Exhibitioner
An exhibition is a type of scholarship award or bursary.
United Kingdom and Ireland
At the universities of Dublin, Oxford, Cambridge and Sheffield, at some public schools, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a sma ...
. He then studied Zoology at
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
, where he graduated MA.
Life and works
He served with the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and being
Mentioned in Dispatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
. From 1946 Swann lectured in zoology at the University of Cambridge, his former Alma Mater.
He moved to
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
as Professor of Natural History in 1952. In 1953 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
James Ritchie,
John Gaddum
Sir John Henry Gaddum (31 March 1900 – 30 June 1965) was an English pharmacologist who, with Ulf von Euler, co-discovered the neuropeptide Substance P in 1931. He was a founder member of the British Pharmacological Society and first editor ...
, Sir
Maurice Yonge
Sir Charles Maurice Yonge, CBE, FRS FRSE (9 December 1899 – 17 March 1986) was an English marine zoologist.
Life
Charles Maurice Yonge was born in Silcoates School near Wakefield in Yorkshire in 1899 the son of John Arthur Yonge (1865-194 ...
and
Harold Callan
Harold Garnet Callan FRS FRSE (15 March 1917, in Maidenhead – 3 November 1993), known as Mick Callan, was an English zoologist and cytologist. He is especially remembered for his work on Lampbrush chromosomes.
Life
Callan was born in Maid ...
. He won the Society's Makdougall Brisbane Prize for 1970/72. In 1962 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of London
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
His academic work was on the mechanisms of
cell division
Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukaryotes, there ar ...
and
fertilisation. He used cell polarisation methods to understand the changes in molecular organisation of the
mitotic spindle
In cell biology, the spindle apparatus refers to the cytoskeletal structure of eukaryotic cells that forms during cell division to separate sister chromatids between daughter cells. It is referred to as the mitotic spindle during mitosis, a pr ...
. With his collaborator
Murdoch Mitchison
The Honounorable John Murdoch Mitchison FRS, FRSE (11 June 1922, Oxford – 17 March 2011, Edinburgh) was a British zoologist.
Background
Family
Mitchison was the son of the Labour politician Dick Mitchison and his wife, the writer Naomi ...
, he found evidence in support of a new theory of cell division. He collaborated with
Victor Rothschild
Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild (31 October 1910 – 20 March 1990) was a British banker, scientist, intelligence officer during World War II, and later a senior executive with Royal Dutch Shell and N M Rothschild & So ...
in experiments on changes in membrane structure during fertilisation.
From 1965 to 1974, he was the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
. In 1968, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Leicester. During his term as Principal, he encountered difficulty with students led by
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
who had unusually been elected as
Rector of the University. He received a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
in the
1972 Birthday Honours, having the honour conferred by
the Queen
In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to:
* Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death
The Queen may also refer to:
* Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...
herself on 5 December 1972.
He was Chairman of the Governors of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, who admired his strong leadership during student protests at Edinburgh University. He was created a
on 16 February 1981. In 1980 Swann became
from 1979 until his death. In 1981, he was made an honorary fellow of
.
In 1969 he led the Swann Report "on The Flow into Employment of Scientists, Engineers and Technologists". In 1985 he led the Swann Report "Education for All", a report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups.
He died in
on 22 September 1990.
is named after him. It continues to be used for work on cell division and fertilisation to this day.
In 1942, he married Tess Gleadowe (died 2009). They had two sons and two daughters.
, Chief Combined Secretary British Joint Staff Mission Washington, 1942
*Stepfather,
, Secretary of Cambridge University Press, author; Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
*Brother-in-law, Monsignor