George Barger FRS FRSE FCS LLD (4 April 1878 – 5 January 1939) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

Life

He was born to an English mother, Eleanor Higginbotham, and Gerrit Barger, a Dutch engineer in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. He was educated at Utrecht and

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

High School. He subsequently attended

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

for his undergraduate degree and University College London to do a

doctorate of science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

. His main work focused on the study of alkaloids and investigations of simple

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

ous compounds of biological importance. Barger identified

tyramine Tyramine ( ) (also spelled tyramin), also known under several other names, is a naturally occurring trace amine derived from the amino acid tyrosine. Tyramine acts as a catecholamine releasing agent. Notably, it is unable to cross the blood ...

as one of the compounds responsible for the biological activity of ergot extracts. He also made significant contributions to the synthesis of

thyroxine File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 25 ...

. and vitamin B₁ In 1936 and 1937 he worked with Joseph John Blackie searching for materials for research. Barger was elected a

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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

in May, 1919 and awarded their

Davy Medal The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000). H ...

in 1938. Barger was married to Florence Emily Thomas in 1904 and had two sons and one daughter. He died at Aeschi, Switzerland.

Positions

* Regius Professor of Chemistry,

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, 1937–1939 * Professor of chemistry in relation to medicine,

University of Edinburgh 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 15 ...

, 1919–1937 * Professor of chemistry, Royal Holloway College,

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 ...

, 1913–1914 * Head of Chemical Department,

Goldsmiths' College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, 1909–1913 * Fellow of

, 1903–1909

Publications

*''Some Applications of Organic Chemistry to Biology and Chemistry'' (1930) *''Organic Chemistry for Medical Students'' (1932)Former Fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783 – 2002
. royalsoced.org.uk

References

Bibliography

* ''Britons discover synthetic thyroxin'', T.R. Ybarra,

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Sunday 12 December 1927 {{DEFAULTSORT:Barger, George 1878 births 1939 deaths Scientists from Manchester Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Glasgow British chemists Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Chemical Society People associated with Royal Holloway, University of London Regius Professors Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities