The Quick Professorship of Biology is one of the senior

professorships Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Frederick James Quick Frederick James Quick (22 October 1836 — 21 December 1902) was a wholesale dealer in tea and coffee in the City of London, chairman of the firm Quick, Reek, and Smith. He left most of his fortune to the University of Cambridge to promote the int ...

(1836–1902), a prosperous coffee merchant and senior partner in the

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 ...

coffee-firm ''Quick, Reek and James'' at the time of his death, bequeathed the majority of his wealth to the

(where he had been a student at Trinity Hall, graduating in 1859) to be used in the 'study of vegetable and animal biology'. After much debate, it was decided that a new professorship should be established which would primarily cover the field of

protozoology 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 ...

, and in 1906

George Nuttall George Henry Falkiner Nuttall Royal Society, FRS (5 July 1862 – 16 December 1937) was an American-British bacteriologist who contributed much to the knowledge of parasitism, parasites and of insect carriers of diseases. He made significant inno ...

became the first holder of the chair. From 1907 to 1921 there was a laboratory associated with the chair, known as the Quick Laboratory: it was a single room, divided into cubicles, on the ground floor of the Cambridge Medical School building. In 1919, after an appeal for funds by the Quick Professor, the Molteno Institute of Parasitology was established. In 1920 the scope of the chair was broadened to the study of

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

. In 1931 the chair was offered to David Keilin for study of

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

Quick Professors

(1906) *

David Keilin David Keilin FRS (21 March 1887 – 27 February 1963) was a British 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 att ...

(1932) *

Vincent Brian Wigglesworth Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth CBE FRS (17 April 1899 – 11 February 1994) was a British entomologist who made significant contributions to the field of insect physiology. He established the field in a textbook which was updated in a number o ...

(1952) *

Robin Coombs Robert Royston Amos Coombs (9 January 1921 – 25 January 2006) was a British immunologist, co-discoverer of the Coombs test (1945) used for detecting antibodies in various clinical scenarios, such as Rh disease and blood transfusion. Biog ...

(1966) * Christopher Craig Wylie (1988) * Stephen Philip Jackson (1995)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Professor of Biology, Quick Biology, Quick Faculty of Biology, University of Cambridge Biology, Quick 1906 establishments in England