Sir Peter Julius Lachmann (23 December 1931 – 26 December 2020) was a British
immunologist, specialising in the study of the
complement system
The complement system, also known as complement cascade, is a part of the immune system that enhances (complements) the ability of antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear microbes and damaged cells from an organism, promote inflammation, and at ...
. He was
emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, a fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
and honorary fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
and of
Imperial College
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
. He was knighted for service to medical science in 2002.
Biography
Born into a Jewish family in Berlin on 23 December 1931, he moved to London in 1938. He went to school at
Christ's College, Finchley
Christ's College is a secondary school with academy status in East Finchley, London, United Kingdom. It falls under the London Borough of Barnet Local Education Authority for admissions. Since September 2018, Christ’s College Finchley has off ...
,
[LACHMANN, Sir Peter (Julius)](_blank)
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 then trained in medicine at Cambridge and
University College Hospital
University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...
, graduating in 1956, and obtained PhD (1962) and ScD (1974) degrees at Cambridge in immunology.
Scientific work
Lachmann's primary research interest was the downregulation of the complement alternative pathway as a treatment for age related macular degeneration. He has previously worked on many aspects of complement biology; on microbial subversion of the innate immune response; on the immunology of measles, on systemic lupus erythematosus and on insect sting allergies.
Publications
Honours
He held a chair at Cambridge University and served as President of the
Royal College of Pathologists
The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) is a professional membership organisation.
Its main function is the overseeing of postgraduate training, and its Fellowship Examination (FRCPath) is recognised as the standard assessment of fitness to pr ...
, Vice President and Biological Secretary of the
Royal Society
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 ...
, and Founder President of the UK's
Academy of Medical Sciences
The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.
Its mission is to adv ...
. His posts in immunology have included Head and Honorary Head of the Medical Research Council Group on Mechanisms in Tumour Immunity and Honorary Director of the MRC Mechanisms in Tumour Immunity Unit. He was also at one point Associate Editor of the journal ''Clinical and Experimental Immunology''. From 1976 to 1999, he was Honorary Clinical Immunologist with the Cambridge Health Authority. Lachmann has also won a Gold Medal from the European Complement Network in 1997, the Medicine and Europe Senior Prize of the Académie des Sciences de la Santé in 2003.
He was a member of the
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway.
History
The Royal Frederick Univer ...
, Foreign Fellow of the
Indian National Science Academy
The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology.
In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...
(1997) and Honorary Foreign Member
Czech Academy of Medicine (2012).
He was an honorary member of the
British Society for Immunology
The British Society for Immunology, or BSI, is a UK-based organisation of British immunologists but accepts members from all countries. It was founded in November 1956 by John H. Humphrey, Robin Coombs, Bob White, and Avrion Mitchison and is one ...
.
Public affairs
Lachmann helped produce the Royal Society's first report on GM crops in 1998. The report, ''Genetically Modified Plants for Food Use'', outlined the benefits of GM plants in agriculture, medicine, food quality and safety, nutrition and health, especially in alleviating food shortage in third-world countries. This caused him to be regarded as a controversial figure by the anti-GM food lobby. In 1999, he tried to persuade the editor of ''The Lancet'' not to publish
Árpád Pusztai
Árpád János Pusztai (8 September 1930 – 17 December 2021) was a Hungarian-born British biochemist and nutritionist who spent 36 years at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was a world expert on plant lectins, authoring ...
's research on the adverse effects of GM potatoes on rats on the grounds that it was not sound science. The Lancet's editor,
Richard Horton, said he received a "very aggressive" phone call calling him "immoral" and threatening that if he published the paper it would "have implications for his personal position" as editor.
Lachmann said that he made the call but denied that he threatened Horton and said the call was to "discuss his error of judgment" in publishing the Pusztai letter and to discuss the "moral difficulties about publishing bad science".
[Laurie Flynn and Michael Sean Gillard for The Guardian, 31 October 199]
Pro-GM scientist "threatened editor"
/ref> Lachmann's own account of GMOs and the Pusztai affair can be found in ''Panic Nation
''Panic Nation: Unpicking the Myths We're Told About Food and Health'', also published as ''Panic Nation: Exposing the Myths We're Told About Food and Health'', is a nonfiction book by Stanley Feldman and Vincent Marks. It was published by Joh ...
'' (2005).
Lachmann was a proponent of the defence of reason and scepticism in scientific academia and on topics that extend from vaccine scares to stem cell technology and to alternative medicine. He was also a bee keeper and this interest has led to an interest in the evolution of group behaviour in both bees and humans and the role of religious prescription as the building blocks of cultural evolution.
References
Sources
"Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-87)."
House of Lords–Science and Technology–Minutes of Evidence, 4 June 2009
"The law has no place in scientific disputes."
Sense About Science, 4 June 2009
"The MMR controversy: an investigation. Part three."
Melanie Phillips's Articles. 4 June 2009 .
Open letter about ‘GM’ from UK scientists to HM Government From Professor Derek Burke and others"
Chemophilia, 4 June 2009
"Professor Sir Peter Lachmann (DSc) - Distinguished Immunologist."
University of Leicester, 4 June 2009
"Sir Peter Lachmann" "Genetically Modified Organisms" in "Panic Nation"
Chapter 18 pps 153-162 Eds Stanley Feldman and Vincent Marks, London John Blake, 2005
The Academy of Medical Sciences, 4 June 2009
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachmann, PeterJulius
1931 births
2020 deaths
Jewish scientists
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
British immunologists
Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Knights Bachelor
People educated at Christ's College, Finchley
Professors of the University of Cambridge