The Quick Professorship of Biology is one of the senior

professorships Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

Frederick James Quick Frederick James Quick (22 October 1836 — 21 December 1902) was a wholesale dealer in tea and coffee in the City of London, chairman of the firm Quick, Reek, and Smith. He left most of his fortune to the University of Cambridge to promote the int ...

(1836–1902), a prosperous coffee merchant and senior partner in the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

coffee-firm ''Quick, Reek and James'' at the time of his death, bequeathed the majority of his wealth to the

(where he had been a student at Trinity Hall, graduating in 1859) to be used in the 'study of vegetable and animal biology'. After much debate, it was decided that a new professorship should be established which would primarily cover the field of

protozoology Protozoology is the study of protozoa, the "animal-like" (i.e., motile and heterotrophic) protists. The Protozoa are considered to be a subkingdom of Protista. They are free-living organisms that are found in almost every habitat. All humans have pr ...

, and in 1906

George Nuttall George Henry Falkiner Nuttall FRS (5 July 1862 – 16 December 1937) was an American-British bacteriologist who contributed much to the knowledge of parasites and of insect carriers of diseases. He made significant innovative discoveries in immu ...

became the first holder of the chair. From 1907 to 1921 there was a laboratory associated with the chair, known as the Quick Laboratory: it was a single room, divided into cubicles, on the ground floor of the Cambridge Medical School building. In 1919, after an appeal for funds by the Quick Professor, the Molteno Institute of Parasitology was established. In 1920 the scope of the chair was broadened to the study of parasitology. In 1931 the chair was offered to David Keilin for study of cell biology.

Quick Professors

(1906) *

David Keilin David Keilin FRS (21 March 1887 – 27 February 1963) was a Jewish scientist focusing mainly on entomology. Background and education He was born in Moscow in 1887 and his family returned to Warsaw early in his youth. He did not attend scho ...

(1932) *

Vincent Brian Wigglesworth Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth CBE FRS (17 April 1899 – 11 February 1994) was a British entomologist who made significant contributions to the field of insect physiology. He established the field in a textbook which was updated in a number ...

(1952) * Robin Coombs (1966) *

Christopher Craig Wylie Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

(1988) * Stephen Philip Jackson (1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Professor of Biology, Quick Biology, Quick Faculty of Biology, University of Cambridge Biology, Quick 1906 establishments in England