Terence John Hamblin (12 March 1943 – 8 January 2012) was a British academic and scientist who was professor of Immunohaematology at the University of Southampton from 1987 until his death.

Life and career

Born in Worcester, England, Hamblin's early years were spent in Aldershot in Hampshire where he and his family lived on Cambridge Road; he was educated at Farnborough Grammar School (1954–1961) and the University of Bristol. He was appointed as Consultant Haematologist in Bournemouth in 1974. He pursued a research career in haematology and immunology, successively becoming an expert in

plasma exchange Plasmapheresis (from the Greek πλάσμα, ''plasma'', something molded, and ἀφαίρεσις ''aphairesis'', taking away) is the removal, treatment, and return or exchange of blood plasma or components thereof from and to the blood circulati ...

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

transplantation, monoclonal antibody therapy, myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. He was awarded a Guernsey Fellowship for stem cell transplantation in 1986 and the Binet-Rai Medal for outstanding research in CLL in 2002. He was a prolific author of books, chapters, original peer-reviewed articles, reviews, editorials, and web articles on scientific and medical topics. He was editor of the scientific journal ''Leukemia Research'' (1986-) and a columnist for the comic/medical political magazine ''World Medicine'' (1976–84). His most important research discovery was that chronic lymphocytic leukaemia comes in two forms, depending on whether the

immunoglobulin An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

heavy chain variable region genes contain somatic mutations. If they do, the survival of the patient averages 25 years; if they do not, the survival of the patient averages 8 years. Hamblin presented the

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

episode 'Of Mice and Men' (1998) in its ''Counterblast'' series, in which he argued for the use of animals in medical research. He publicised the fact that, contrary to popular belief,

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

contains no more iron than lettuce, while pink succulent

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

contains none at all; like all invertebrates its respiratory pigment is based on copper rather than iron. He claimed in a 1981 ''

BMJ ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origina ...

'' paper that the belief in spinach having a high iron content was due to a decimal point error that was discovered in the 1930s; Mike Sutton published an article in 2010 questioning Hamblin's story. In a later article, Sutton discovered that, contrary to popular belief, Hamblin was not the original source of the spinach, Popeye, decimal error myth. Hamblin died on 8 January 2012 of cancer.Obituary for Professor Terry Hamblin
- '' The Telegraph'' - 24 January 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamblin, T.J. 1943 births 2012 deaths Academics of the University of Southampton Alumni of the University of Bristol Deaths from cancer in England British haematologists Medical doctors from Aldershot