Robert Knowles (30 October 1883 – 3 August 1936, Calcutta) was a British parasitologist, known for his discovery, with Biraj Mohan Das Gupta, of the ''

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...

'' species now known as ''

Plasmodium knowlesi ''Plasmodium knowlesi'' is a parasite that causes malaria in humans and other primates. It is found throughout Southeast Asia, and is the most common cause of human malaria in Malaysia. Like other ''Plasmodium'' species, ''P. knowlesi'' has a li ...

''.

Biography

Knowles matriculated at

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

and graduated in 1905 with B.A. Receiving medical education at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...

, he was made M.R.S.C in 1907 and L.R.C.P. Lond. in 1907. As a British officer in the Indian Medical Service he was made lieutenant on 1 February 1908, captain on 1 February 1911, major on 1 August 1919, and lieutenant-colonel on 1 August 1927; upon his death in 1936 he held the rank of colonel. He became a professor of protozoology at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine in 1928. Knowles was the director of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine from 1933 to 1935; in the directorship his predecessor was Hugh William Acton and his successor was Sir Ram Nath Chopra.

''P. knowlesi''

Giuseppe Franchini published in 1927 what is generally believed to be the first description of the ''Plasmodium'' species now known as ''P. knowlesi''. At the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, in 1931 H. G. M. Campbell detected ''P. knowlesi'' in a macaque imported from Singapore. Campbell showed his discovery to his supervisor L. Everard Napier, who injected the strain into three monkeys, one of which developed symptoms of malaria. Aware of the Protozoological Department's search for a monkey malaria strain, Napier and Campbell gave the infected monkey to the physician Biraj Mohan Das Gupta, working under Knowles. Das Gupta maintained the ''Plasmodium'' species by serial passage in monkeys until Knowles returned from leave. In 1932, Knowles and Das Gupta published their description of the ''Plasmodiium'' species and their account of how it could be transmitted from monkey to human by blood passage to three human volunteers. The ''Plasmodium'' species was named ''Plasmodium knowlesi'' by Sinton and Mulligan in 1932. The first natural infection of ''P. knowlesi'' in humans was observed in 1965.

Selected publications

*with Ronald Senior-White: *with H. W. Acton: * **with revision and abridgment by Biraj Mohan Das Gupta: *with Biraj Mohan Dasgupta and Ronald Senior-White:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knowles, Robert 1883 births 1936 deaths Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Malariologists British parasitologists Indian Medical Service officers Scientists from Kolkata British people in colonial India