The Leeuwenhoek Lecture is a prize lecture of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
to recognize achievement in
microbiology
Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...
.
The prize was originally given in 1950 and awarded annually, but from 2006 to 2018 was given triennially. From 2018 it will be awarded biennially.
The prize is named after the Dutch microscopist
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and was instituted in 1948 from a bequest from George Gabb. A gift of £2000 is associated with the lecture.
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Leeuwenhoek Lecturers
The following is a list of Leeuwenhoek Lecture award winners along with the title of their lecture:
21st Century
* 2022 Sjors Scheres, ''for ground-breaking contributions and innovations in image analysis and reconstruction methods in electron cryo-microscopy, enabling the structure determination of complex macromolecules of fundamental biological and medical importance to atomic resolution''
* 2020 Geoffrey L. Smith, ''for his studies of poxviruses which has had major impact in wider areas, notably vaccine development, biotechnology, host-pathogen interactions and innate immunity''
* 2018 Sarah Cleaveland, ''Can we make rabies history? Realising the value of research for the global elimination of rabies''Robin Weiss
Robert Anthony "Robin" Weiss (born 20 February 1940) is a British molecular biologist, Professor of Viral Oncology at University College London and a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
Research
His research has focussed on retroviruses, ...
, ''From Pan to pandemic: animal to human infections''
20th Century
* 2000 Howard Dalton
Sir Howard Dalton, FRS (8 February 1944 – 12 January 2008) was a British microbiologist. He served as the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) from March 2002 to September 2007.
Edu ...
, ''The natural and unnatural history of methane-oxidising bacteria''Peter C. Doherty
Peter Charles Doherty (born 15 October 1940) is an Australian immunologist and Nobel laureate. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkernag ...
, ''Killer T cells and virus infections''
* 1998 George A.M. Cross, ''The genetics and cell biology of antigenic variation in trypanosomes''
* 1997 Peter Biggs, ''Mareks disease, tumours and prevention''Keith Vickerman
Keith Vickerman FRS FRSE FMedSci (21 March 1933 – 28 June 2016) was a British zoologist born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. He was Regius Professor of Zoology in the University of Glasgow, 1984–98.‘VICKERMAN, Prof. Keith’, Who's Who 201 ...
, ''The opportunistic parasite''
* 1993 Fred Brown, ''Peptide vaccines, dream or reality''.John Skehel
Sir John James Skehel, (born 27 February 1941) is a British virologist and Emeritus scientist at the Francis Crick Institute in London. From 1987 to 2006 he was director of the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) at Mill Hill which ...
, ''How enveloped viruses enter cells''
* 1989 Piet Borst
Piet may refer to:
People
*Piet (given name), a common name in the Netherlands and South Africa
*Henri Piet (1888–1915), French lightweight boxer
*Tony Piet (1906–1981), American Major League Baseball player
Schools
*Purushottam Institute of ...
, ''Antigenic variation in African trypanosomes''
* 1988 Alfred Rupert Hall
Alfred Rupert Hall (1920–2009) was a prominent British historian of science, known as editor of a collection of Isaac Newton's unpublished scientific papers (1962), and Newton's correspondence, in 1977.
Life
Hall was born near Stoke-on-Trent ...
, ''Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) and Anglo-Dutch collaboration''
* 1987 David Alan Hopwood, ''Towards an understanding of gene switching in streptomyces, the basis of sporulation and antibiotic production''William Fleming Hoggan Jarrett
William "Bill" Fleming Hoggan Jarrett, RCVS, FRCPath, FRCPG, FRS (1928–2011) was a British pathologist.
Personal life
Bill was born on 2 January 1928 in Glasgow.
He studied at Lenzie Academy, Glasgow, and Glasgow Veterinary College. His fathe ...
, ''Environmental carcinogens and paillomaviruses in the pathogenesis of cancer''.William Duncan Paterson Stewart
Sir William Duncan Paterson Stewart (born 6 June 1935) was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1999–2002 and Chairman of the Microbiological Research Authority.
Education
Stewart was educated at Bowmore Junior Secondary School ...
, ''The functional organisation of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria''.
* 1983 Michael Anthony Epstein, ''A prototype vaccine to prevent Epstein-Barr (E.B.) virus-associated tumours''.Hamao Umezawa
was a Japanese scientist who discovered several antimicrobial agents and enzyme inhibitors.
Umezawa was born in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, as the second son in a family of seven children. After graduating from Musashi Junior and Senior High ...
, ''Studies of microbial products in rising to the challenge of curing cancer''Frank William Ernest Gibson
Frank William Ernest Gibson (22 July 1923 – 11 July 2008) was an Australian biochemist and molecular biologist, Howard Florey Professor of Medical Research in the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of ...
, ''The biochemical and genetic approach to the study of bioenergetics with the use of Escherichia coli: progress and prospects.''Renato Dulbecco
Renato Dulbecco ( , ; February 22, 1914 – February 19, 2012) was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that can cause cancer when they infect anim ...
, ''The control of cell growth regulation by tumour-inducing viruses: a challenging problem''.
* 1973 Aaron Klug
Sir Aaron Klug (11 August 1926 – 20 November 2018) was a British biophysicist and chemist. He was a winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of bio ...
, ''The structure and assembly of regular viruses''
* 1972 Hans Leo Kornberg
Sir Hans Leo Kornberg, FRS (14 January 1928 – 16 December 2019) was a British-American biochemist. He was Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry in the University of Cambridge from 1975 to 1995, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridg ...
, ''Carbohydrate transport by micro-organisms''
* 1971 Michael George Parke Stoker, ''Tumour viruses and the sociology of fibroblasts''Jacques Lucien Monod
Jacques Lucien Monod (February 9, 1910 – May 31, 1976) was a French biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965, sharing it with François Jacob and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of en ...
, ''Cellular and molecular cybernetics''.
* 1968 Gordon Elliott Fogg
Gordon Elliott Fogg (26 April 1919 – 30 January 2005) was a British biologist.
Early life
He was born in Langar, Nottinghamshire and educated at Dulwich College and Queen Mary College, London.
Career
During WW2 he assisted in a national s ...
, ''The physiology of an algal nuisance''
* 1967 James Baddiley
Sir James Baddiley FRS FRSE (15 May 1918, in Manchester – 17 November 2008, in Cambridge) was a British biochemist.
Early life and education
Baddiley was born and brought up in Manchester. His father was director of research at the ICI ...
, ''Teichoic acids and the molecular structure of bacterial walls''Percy Wragg Brian
Percy Wragg Brian FRS FRSE CBE (5 September 1910 – 17 August 1979) was a British botanist and mycologist. He was critical to the development of plant pathology and natural antibiotics such as Gibberellin and Griseofulvin.
Life
He was born i ...
, ''Obligate parasitism in fungi''
* 1965 William Hayes William Hayes may refer to:
In politics
* William Hayes (Irish politician), Irish Sinn Féin politician
* William Hayes (Canadian politician) (1879–1939), member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
*William P. Hayes (1866–1940), American l ...
, ''Some controversial aspects of bacterial sexuality''Donald Devereux Woods
Donald Devereux Woods (16 February 1912 - 6 November 1964) was a British microbiologist.
He was born in Ipswich, the son of Walter and Violet Woods, and educated at Northgate School, Ipswich. He entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating in 19 ...
, ''A pattern of research with two bacterial growth factors''
* 1963 Norman Wingate Pirie, ''The size of small organisms''
* 1962 Guido Pontecorvo
Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo FRS FRSE (29 November 1907 – 25 September 1999) was an Italian-born Scottish geneticist.
Life
Guido Pontecorvo was born on 29 November 1907 in Pisa into a family of wealthy Italian industrialists. He was on ...
, ''Microbial genetics: achievements and prospects''
* 1961 Frank John Fenner
Frank John Fenner (21 December 1914 – 22 November 2010) was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career in the field of virology. His two greatest achievements are cited as overseeing the eradication of smallpox, and the attempted con ...
, ''Interactions between poxviruses''
* 1960 Andre Michel Lwoff, ''Viral functions''
* 1959 Frederick Charles Bawden
Sir Frederic Charles Bawden (18 August 1908 – 8 February 1972) was an English plant pathologist and virologist who worked at Rothamsted Experimental Station from 1936 and served as a director from 1958 until his death.
Bawden was born in Nor ...
, ''Viruses: retrospect and prospect''
* 1958 David Keilin
David Keilin FRS (21 March 1887 – 27 February 1963) was a Jewish scientist focusing mainly on entomology.
Background and education
He was born in Moscow in 1887 and his family returned to Warsaw early in his youth. He did not attend scho ...
, ''The problem of anabiosis or latent life: history and current concepts''
* 1957 Wilson Smith, ''Virus-host cell interactions''
* 1956 Ernest Frederick Gale
Ernest Frederick Gale FRS (15 July 1914 – 7 March 2005) was a British microbiologist. In 1952, Dr. Gale developed the microbial infallibility hypothesis
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, � ...
, ''The biochemical organization of the bacterial cell''
* 1955 Henry Gerard Thornton, ''The ecology of micro-organisms in soil''.
* 1954 Juda Hirsch Quastel
Juda Hirsch Quastel, (October 2, 1899 – October 15, 1987) was a British-Canadian biochemist who pioneered diverse research in neurochemistry, soil metabolism, cellular metabolism, and cancer.
Biography
Quastel, also known as "Harry" or ...
, ''Soil metabolism''
* 1953 Kenneth Manley Smith, ''Some aspects of the behaviour of certain viruses in their hosts and of their development in the cell''.
* 1952 Albert Jan Kluyver, ''The changing appraisal of the microbe''
* 1951 Christopher Howard Andrewes
Sir Christopher Howard Andrewes (7 June 1896 – 31 December 1988) was a British virologist who discovered the human influenza A virus in 1933.
Education
Andrewes was educated at Highgate School and later studied medicine at St Bartholomew' ...
, ''The place of viruses in nature''Paul Gordon Fildes
Sir Paul Gordon Fildes (10 February 1882 – 5 February 1971) was a British pathologist and microbiologist who worked on the development of chemical-biological weaponry at Porton Down during the Second World War. , ''The development of microbiology''.
References
{{Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Biology education in the United Kingdom
Microbiology organizations
Royal Society lecture series