Cecil Clifford Dobell FRS (22 February 1886,

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

– 23 December 1949, London) was a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, specifically a protozoologist. He studied intestinal

amoebae An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; : amoebas (less commonly, amebas) or amoebae (amebae) ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and r ...

, and

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

. He was a leading authority on the history of

protistology Protistology is a scientific discipline devoted to the study of protists, a highly diverse group of eukaryotic organisms. All eukaryotes apart from animals, plants and fungi are considered protists. Its field of study therefore overlaps with the ...

Life

Clifford Dobell was educated at Sandringham School,

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he graduated with a first-class degree in natural sciences in 1906 under the tutelage of

Adam Sedgwick Adam Sedgwick FRS (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did ...

. From 1910 to 1919, Dobell was assistant professor of protistology and cytology at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he helped military medical staff improve prevention and treatment of ailments associated with intestinal

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

. At this time he was, as P. O. Crossfield in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world ...

'' later explained, "one of the first to demonstrate the existence and to appreciate the epidemiological significance of symptomless carriers of

Entamoeba histolytica ''Entamoeba histolytica'' is an anaerobic organism, anaerobic parasitic amoebozoan, part of the genus ''Entamoeba''. Predominantly infecting humans and other primates causing amoebiasis, ''E. histolytica'' is estimated to infect about 35-50 mil ...

, whose number among the inhabitants of Great Britain he estimated at 10%." In 1918, at the age of 32, Dobell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His candidature citation described him as: "Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Lecturer on Zoology at the Imperial College of Science and Technology. Walsingham Medallist, 1908. Rolleston Prizeman, 1908. Balfour Student, 1908–1909. Distinguished for the wide range of his researches on the Protista and for the skill he has shown in the investigations of their structure and life-histories (e.g., 'Copromonas subtilis', '

Chromidina ''Chromidina'' is a genus of apostome ciliates of the family Opalinopsidae. Species of ''Chromidina'' are parasitic in the renal and pancreatic appendages of cephalopods A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Ceph ...

', 'Entamoeba ranarum'). His researches have also thrown light upon the nucleus of the Bacteria, on the alleged sexual phenomena of the same group, and on the nature of the Spirochaets and Cyanophyceae. Author of numerous scientific memoirs, of which the following may be mentioned: – ''Observations on the Life-history of 'Adelea ovata', A Schn'' (Proc Roy Soc, 1907); ''The Structure and Life-history of 'Copromonas subtilis' n g n sp'' (ibid, 1908); ''Researches on the Intestinal Protozoa of Frogs and Toads'' (ibid); ''Chromidia and the Binuclearity Hypotheses; a Review and a Criticism'' (ibid); ''Contributions to the Life-History of 'Hoemocystidium simondi', Cast and Will'' (Festschr fur R Hertwig, 1910); ''Contributions to the Cytology of the Bacteria'' (Quart Journ Micros Sci, 1911); ''Paraspirillum Vejdovskii' n g n sp, a new Bacterial Form'' (ibid); ''On the Systematic Position of the Spirochaets'' (Proc Roy Soc, 1912); ''Researches on the Spirochaets and Related Organisms'' (Archiv für Protistenkunde, 1911). In 1919 he published a monograph, ''The Amoebae Living in Man''. In 1932 he published the authoritative work on

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch art, science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " ...

: ''Antony van Leeuwenhoek and his "Little Animals"'', which was reprinted in 1960 ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobell, Clifford 1886 births 1949 deaths 20th-century British biologists Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge