George Neil Jenkins (23 October 1914 – 14 October 2007) was Professor of Oral Physiology at the Dental School of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne for most of his distinguished career. He concentrated his research on the prevention of tooth decay, becoming a world expert in oral hygiene. He was a lifelong humanist, and President of the North East Humanists group. Career After becoming one of the first students in the country to read for a degree in biochemistry, Jenkins gained a PhD at Cambridge, and by the early 1940s was teaching physiology to doctors at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1946 Jenkins came to Newcastle upon Tyne and was for ten years Nuffield Lecturer in Physiology to dental students at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, a role which he pioneered. Subsequently, Jenkins was appointed Head of the new Department of Oral Physiology. Retiring in 1980, Jenkins continued to be engaged in teaching and research. As well as ongoing work in this country, Jenkins acted as visiting Professor for varying periods of time at the universities of Chicago, Toronto, Minneapolis, Edmonton, and, on three occasions, Trinidad. One of Neil Jenkins's major study areas was work looking at the beneficial effect that eating cheese has on tooth decay. During the Second World War, he was involved in studies to determine the amount of chalk which would have to be added to the bread in Britain, in order to avoid calcium deficiency in the population. Neil was an active researcher, but he was also keen on making known the implications of his research. He has always been an ardent supporter of water fluoridation, giving many public presentations on the topic. Regarding this subject he also appeared on the BBC's Panorama. Working with R. L. Speirs, Neil found that the surface of tooth enamel is high in fluoride, a finding which never received the recognition it deserves, as it went unpublished in any dental journal. He also looked at the effects fluoride in water had on teeth, even going so far as to give himself tooth decay to show that it could be cured using fluoride. He lectured on the subject of water fluoridation across the world, becoming a key contributor to a controversial debate. During the Second World War, he served as a nutritional advisor to the government. Jenkins also acted as an associate editor of the journal Archives of Oral