Peter D. Mitchell
| Peter Mitchell | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Peter Dennis Mitchell September 29, 1920 Mitcham, Surrey, England |
| Died | 10 April 1992 (aged 71) Bodmin, Cornwall, England |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Biochemistry |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | The rates of synthesis and proportions by weight of the nucleic acid components of a Micrococcus during growth in normal and in penicillin containing media with reference to the bactericidal action of penicillin (1950) |
| Known for | discovery of the mechanism of ATP synthesis |
| Notable awards |
|
Signature
 |
|
Peter Dennis Mitchell, FRS (29 September 1920 – 10 April 1992) was a British biochemist who was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis.
Mitchell was born in Mitcham, Surrey on 29 September 1920. His parents were Christopher Gibbs Mitchell, a civil servant, and Kate Beatrice Dorothy (née) Taplin. His uncle was Sir Godfrey Way Mitchell, chairman of George Wimpey. He was educated at Queen's College, Taunton and Jesus College, Cambridge where he studied the Natural Sciences Tripos specialising in Biochemistry.
He was appointed a research post in the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge, in 1942, and was awarded a Ph.D. in early 1951 for work on the mode of action of penicillin.
He was an atheist.
In 1955 he was invited by Professor Michael Swann to set up a biochemical research unit, called the Chemical Biology Unit, in the Department of Zoology, at the University of Edinburgh, where he was appointed a Senior Lecturer in 1961, then Reader in 1962, although ill health led to his resignation in 1963.
...
Wikipedia