Norman Heatley
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Norman George Heatley OBE (10January 19115January 2004) was an English
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 ...
and
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 ...
. He was a member of the team of
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
scientists who developed
penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...
. Heatley developed the back-extraction technique for efficiently purifying penicillin in bulk.


Early life

He was born in
Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and around north-east of London. In 2011 it had a populat ...
, and as a boy was an enthusiastic
sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...
of a small boat on the
River Deben The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at ...
, an experience which gave him a lifelong love of sailing. He attended school at Westbourne House in
Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...
, followed by
Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...
, then went on to St John's College,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, where he studied Natural Sciences, graduating in 1933. His doctoral research in Cambridge led to a PhD in 1936, and he then moved to the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
, where he became a fellow of Lincoln College and joined a team working under
Howard Florey Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey, (; 24 September 1898 – 21 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his ro ...
that included
Ernst Chain Sir Ernst Boris Chain (19 June 1906 – 12 August 1979) was a German-born British biochemist and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin. Life and career Chain was born in Berlin, the son of Marg ...
.


Production problem

Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of wha ...
had first discovered
penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...
by accident in 1928, but at that time believed it had little application. When Florey and his team recognised the potential of the discovery for combating
bacterial infection Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and many are beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of t ...
, they faced the problem of how to manufacture penicillin in sufficient quantities to be of use. Heatley, although the junior member of the team, possessed a natural gift for ingenuity and invention. It was he who suggested transferring the active ingredient of penicillin back into water by changing its acidity, thus purifying the penicillin. Heatley recorded these trials, carried out on eight mice in May 1940, in his diary: On returning home, he realised that in haste and darkness, he had put his underpants on back to front, and noted this in his diary too, adding "It really looks as if penicillin may be of practical importance." In order to conduct tests on human patients, even more of the drug had to be produced, and again it was Heatley who realised that the most effective vessel for this purpose was something like the porcelain
bedpan A bedpan or bed pan is a device used as a receptacle for the urine and/or Human feces, feces of a person who is confined to a bed and therefore not able to use a toilet or chamber pot. Bedpans can be either reusable or disposable, and include s ...
s in use at the
Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...
. These were in short supply because the ongoing
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, so Heatley designed a modified version which was manufactured in the Potteries. With the help of these, the Oxford laboratory became the first penicillin factory, and subsequent tests on humans proved the efficacy of the new treatment. Even so, it was very difficult to produce enough for sustained treatment.


Trials on humans

In December 1940, a 43-year-old police constable, Albert Alexander, was accidentally scratched by a rose thorn on his mouth and was succumbing to
septicaemia Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...
. Alexander was admitted to the
Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...
, where various conventional treatments all failed, and his case was brought to Florey and Heatley's attention. Having previously tried penicillin only on mice, Heatley was concerned about the side effects large doses of penicillin might have. A patient in a terminal condition with nothing to lose was needed as a human volunteer, and Constable Alexander met this requirement. On 12 February 1941, Alexander was given an intravenous infusion of 160 mg (200 units) of penicillin. Within 24 hours, Alexander's temperature had dropped, his appetite had returned and the infection had begun to subside. However, owing to the instability of penicillin and the wartime restrictions placed on Howard Florey's Laboratory, only a small quantity was available, and although Florey and colleagues extracted any remaining penicillin from Alexander's urine, they had run out by the fifth day and Alexander died a month later. Florey and his team thereafter decided to work only on sick children, who did not need such large doses of penicillin, until their methods of production improved.


Illinois and New Jersey

Eventually, Heatley and Florey travelled to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1941 because they wanted to produce about one kilogram of pure penicillin, and persuaded a laboratory in
Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...
, to develop larger-scale manufacturing of it. In Peoria, Heatley was assigned to work with Dr. A.J. Moyer. Moyer suggested adding corn-steep liquor, a by-product of starch extraction, to the growth medium. With this and other subtle changes, such as using lactose in place of glucose, they were able to push up yields of penicillin to 20 units per millilitre. But their cooperation had become one-sided. Heatley noted, "Moyer had begun not telling me what he was doing." Florey returned to Oxford that September, but Heatley stayed on in Peoria until December; then for the next six months, he worked at Merck & Co. in
Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...
. In July 1942, he returned to Oxford and was soon to learn why Moyer had become so secretive. When he published their research results, he omitted Heatley's name from the paper, despite an original contract which stipulated that any publications should be jointly authored. Fifty years on, Heatley confessed that he was amused, rather than upset, by Moyer's duplicity. Later he was to learn that financial greed had led Moyer to claim all the credit for himself. To have acknowledged Heatley's part of the work would have made it difficult to apply for patents, as he did, with himself as sole inventor.


Achievement

As Sir Henry Harris put it succinctly in 1998: Yet while Fleming, Florey and Chain jointly received the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
for their work in 1945, Heatley's contribution was not fully recognized for another 45 years. It was only in 1990 that he was awarded the unusual distinction of an
Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
of Medicine from
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
, the first given to a non-medic in Oxford's 800-year history. He was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) "For services to scientific research", in the 1978 Birthday Honours.


Final years

Heatley died on 5 January 2004 at his home, 12 Oxford Road, Old Marston, near Oxford. He was cremated in a
cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. Their construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard, made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light brown ...
coffin after a funeral service at St Nicholas's Church, Marston, on 15 January 2004. Heatley was survived by his wife, Mercy, and four children, Rose, Chris, Jonathan and Tamsin.


Legacy

Heatley's former home on Oxford Road now bears a commemorative
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
, erected in his honour in 2010 by the
Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board The Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board established in 1999 was the brainchild of Hugo Brunner, Sir Hugo Brunner, then Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, and Edwin Townsend-Coles, Chairman of the Oxford Civic Society. The Board is an autonomous volunta ...
. Heatley is also mentioned alongside Florey and Chain, on another blue plaque, on the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology building on South Parks Road, Oxford. After Heatley died in 2004, Oxford University established a Norman Heatley Postdoctoral Award for researchers showing excellent ingenuity and problem-solving skills. Heatley's papers are archived within the Wellcome Collection in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.


References


Sources


Heatley, Norman George
''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'' (restricted access) {{DEFAULTSORT:Heatley, Norman 1911 births 2004 deaths People from Woodbridge, Suffolk People educated at Saint Felix School People educated at Tonbridge School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford 20th-century British biologists 20th-century biochemists 20th-century English chemists English biologists English biochemists Officers of the Order of the British Empire