Winifred May Watkins, FRS (6 August 1924 – 3 October 2003) 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 ...

and academic. She worked at the

Imperial College School of Medicine Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) is the undergraduate medical school of Imperial College London in England, and one of the United Hospitals. It is part of the college's Faculty of Medicine and was formed by the merger of several hist ...

Early life

Watkins was born on 6 August 1924 in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

, London, England. Originally from an article in ''Vox Sanguinis'', Volume 88, Issue 2, pages 75–76, February 2005, by C. Richmond. Her father worked as an engraver but he was an artist in his spare time. She took to science after she won a scholarship to The Godolphin and Latymer School for Girls in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

. In 1939 the whole school was evacuated from London with no forward planning for where the school would stay. Watkins returned to London after a year. She had intended to study medicine but the war meant that she had to work whilst studying at the Chelsea Polytechnic. She started a lifelong collaboration with Walter Morgan and she obtained special permission to be credited on a joint paper as she lacked the qualifications normally required. She eventually obtained a degree in Physics and Chemistry in 1947 from

London University 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- ...

. After studying at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

Medical School she obtained a doctorate in biochemistry from the

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 ...

in 1950.

Academic career

She was working on the science of blood and blood groups and she joined a specialist group at the

Lister Institute The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, informally known as the Lister Institute, was established as a research institute (the British Institute of Preventive Medicine) in 1891, with bacteriologist Marc Armand Ruffer as its first director, us ...

. She was made a

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in biochemistry at the

in 1965, and appointed

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

in 1968. Following her publication of an important paper that explained the biosynthesis of blood groups she was funded to work at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Honours

Awards followed for her contribution to

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

and she 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 ...

(FRS) in 1969 and of the University of London in 1970. She was awarded the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

by the Royal Society in 1988. She was a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

''"In recognition of her fundamental contributions towards an understanding of the biochemical genetics of carbohydrate antigens on cell surfaces and in secreted glycoproteins."''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Winifred 1924 births 2003 deaths Alumni of the University of London Royal Medal winners British biochemists Academics of Imperial College London Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Female Fellows of the Royal Society Place of death missing British women chemists People from Shepherd's Bush People educated at Godolphin and Latymer School Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British women scientists