Philip Eggleton

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 ...

(19 March 1903 – 7 October 1954) was a British biochemist, physiologist, lecturer, and (with his wife Grace Palmer Eggleton), co-discoverer of

Phosphagen Phosphagens, also known as macroergic compounds, are high energy storage compounds, also known as high-energy phosphate compounds, chiefly found in muscular tissue in animals. They allow a high-energy phosphate pool to be maintained in a concentra ...

Life

Eggleton was born at

Kingston-on-Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

on 19 March 1903. He attended the

Tiffin School Tiffin School is a boys' grammar school in Kingston upon Thames, England. It has specialist status in both the performing arts and languages. The school moved from voluntary aided status to become an Academy School on 1 July 2011. Founded in 1 ...

there before going to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

graduating BSc in 1922 and receiving his doctorate (DSc) in 1930. He then received a post at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

rising to Reader in Biochemistry in the Physiology Department. He also acted as Scientific Advisor to

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

. In 1927, in experiments on frog muscles 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 ...

, he discovered the release (on passing an electrical current) of a previously unknown substance which he labelled phosphagen. It was shown that the substance played a major role in muscular contraction. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1931. His proposers were Sir

Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer FRS FRSE FRCP LLD (2 June 1850 – 29 March 1935) was an English physiologist. He is regarded as a founder of endocrinology: in 1894 he discovered and demonstrated the existence of adrenaline together with G ...

Alfred Joseph Clark Professor Alfred Joseph Clark MC FRS FRSE (19 August 1885 – 30 July 1941) was a British pharmacologist and Professor of Pharmacology at the University College, London. He was a de-bunker of fraudulent remedies and did many early studies on ...

, and

Henry Dryerre Prof Henry Dryerre FRSE MRCS LRCP (1881–5 February 1959) was a Scottish veterinarian and animal physiologist. He was Emeritus Professor of Physiology at the Dick Veterinary College in Edinburgh. The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Sco ...

. During the

Second World War 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 ...

he served in the Gas Identification Service (part of the Edinburgh Civil Defence team)., page 296. Eggleton died on 7 October 1954, aged 51.

Family

He married Grace Palmer (1901-1970) who worked with him. The two discovered

Publications

*''The Physiological Significance of Phosphagen'' (1927) *''Further Observations on Phosphagen'' (1928) *''A Problem in the Random Distribution of Particles'' (1944) with

William Ogilvy Kermack William Ogilvy Kermack FRS FRSE FRIC (26 April 1898 – 20 July 1970) was a Scottish biochemist. He made mathematical studies of epidemic spread and established links between environmental factors and specified diseases. He is noteworthy for ...

*''The Use of Sodium Sulphate for the Preparation of Concentrated Protein-Free Tissue Extracts''

References

1903 births 1954 deaths British biochemists British physiologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh People educated at Tiffin School {{UK-scientist-stub