in Boston where he met several distinguished scientists including Walter Goebel and Michael Heidelberger, both of whom became close friends. In 1936 he was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, allowing him to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich under Tadeus Reichstein, who he also became friends with. He returned to England in 1938 to take up a position as Reader of Biochemistry at the Lister Institute, continuing to work on bacterial antigens before the outbreak of World War II forced him to stop his research due to the perceived risk of large bacterial cultures possibly being exposed to the atmosphere by bombing. Expecting casualties in the war he instead focused his attention on the structure of blood antigens with Winifred Watkins, and was one of the first to insist on human-only individual samples, rather than pooled or animal samples. It took until 1965 before they worked out the complete chemical structure of A and B-type blood. He retired from the Biochemistry department in 1968, staying as a guest researcher until 1972 when due to the poor state of the Institute he was asked to become the director again, which he did until 1975 when the institute was forced to close. From then until 1989 he worked in an honorary position at the MRC Clinical Research Centre. Awards He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1949, and from 1956 to 1960 he served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Council. He also served on the Royal Society Council until 1958, and was elected its vice president in 1961, a position he held until 1964. In 1959 he was made a CBE and delivered the Royal Society's Croonian Lecture. In 1968 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society 'In recognition of his outstanding contributions to knowledge of the chemistry of blood-group substances, with special reference to genetical as well as immunological considerations'. Personal life He married Dorothy Irene Price (died 1993) on 25 April 1930, with whom he had two daughters and a son. References 1900 births 2003 deaths British biochemists Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners British centenarians Men centenarians People educated at Raine's Foundation School Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of the University of East London