Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson FRS (1924—2021) was a British

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

whose research was primarily dedicated to the study of

phospholipid Phospholipids, are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typ ...

s. His career was based at the

Babraham Institute The Babraham Institute is a life sciences research institution and a partner organisation of the University of Cambridge. The Babraham Institute is based on the Babraham Research Campus, partly occupying a former manor house, but also labora ...

, Cambridge, starting in 1955, in the newly formed biochemistry department. He served as honorary publications secretary for

The Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. Structure It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with th ...

(1973–1980), and was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1981.

Biography

Rex Malcom Chaplin Dawson was born on 3 June 1924 in

Stoke Golding Stoke Golding is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, close to the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : According to the 2001 census ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, the second son of James Dawson, newspaperman, and Ethel Mary (née Chaplin), teacher of music, English and art. When he was 11 the family moved to nearby

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

, where Dawson attended the local

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. There, “he gained a sudden early fascination with science” after reading Wonders of Chemistry. He gained a scholarship to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL) and was awarded first class honours for his degree in applied and theoretical physics in 1945. He then moved to Cardiff to join

Derek Richter Derek Richter (14 January 1907 – 15 December 1995), English neuroscientist, was one of the founding fathers of the science of brain chemistry. Identifying monoamine oxidase and demonstrating its function in the brain early in his career, ...

’s group at

Whitchurch Hospital Whitchurch Hospital ( cy, Ysbyty'r Eglwys Newydd) was a psychiatric hospital in Whitchurch, an area in the north of Cardiff. It was managed by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The hospital remains a grade II listed building. Its g ...

. His work there on the metabolism of the brain earned him a PhD in 1949. Dawson stayed on at Cardiff, doing further work on the metabolism of

phospholipids Phospholipids, are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typ ...

. He then moved in 1952 to the biochemistry department at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

where he continued his investigations, leading to the publication of an important paper. The head of his department, Sir Rudolph Peters FRS retired in 1954 and went on set up a new department of biochemistry at the Agricultural Research Council Animal Physiology Unit at

Babraham Babraham is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about south-east of Cambridge on the A1307 road. Babraham is home to the Babraham Institute which undertakes research into cell and molecula ...

. Peters had noted Dawson’s talent, and offered him a position in the new organisation in 1955. Dawson moved to Babraham and remained for thirty years. Dawson was honorary publications secretary for The Biochemical Society from 1973 to 1980. His contributions to the future of the organization were key: "With his fellow officers of the society, Rex played a major role in getting things onto a more secure financial and administrative basis, a legacy that continues to this day in a flourishing society".

Family

Rex Dawson married Emily Elizabeth Hodder in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonto ...

in the summer of 1946. Their two children, Hazel Anne and John Rex, were born in Bristol in 1947 and Cardiff in 1951 respectively: *Anne, a physiologist, married David Atherton; their son Joe does research on

microtubules Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nm and have an inner diameter between 11 an ...

King’s College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. *John Rex (more usually Rex) is an Emeritus Consultant Cardiologist,

Barts Health NHS Trust Barts Health NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, England. Established in 2012, it runs five hospitals throughout the City of London and East London, and is one of the largest NHS trusts in England. History The trust was established on ...

. Emily Elizabeth Dawson died on 29 September 2005. In 2009, Rex Malcom Chaplin Dawson married June Margaret Buschman (née Pepper), who had lost her husband Petrus in 2004. Rex died on 29 March 2021 in Langham, Norfolk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Rex Malcolm Chaplin 1924 births 2021 deaths British scientists British biochemists People from Hinckley Alumni of University College London Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society