Ernest Hubert Francis Baldwin (March 29, 1909 – December 7, 1969) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 biochemist

Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...

, textbook author and pioneer in the field of comparative biochemistry.

Born in Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, Baldwin attended the Crypt Grammar School followed by St. John's College, Cambridge. He completed the natural sciences tripos, specialising in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

 for Part II. He won a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the international exhibition of 1851, officially called the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, held in The Crystal Palace in London, England...

 scholarship for 1933–1935, remaining at Cambridge to study biochemistry. His main influence there was the eminent biochemist Frederick Gowland Hopkins; he also worked with Joseph Needham

Joseph Needham

Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...

 and Dorothy Needham.

In 1937, inspired by the broad biochemical interests of Hopkins and the Needhams, Baldwin published An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry, an influential introductory textbook that went through four editions, the last in 1964. By 1946 Baldwin had advanced to the position of lecturer in biochemistry at Cambridge. In 1947, he published the first edition (of five) of Dynamic Aspects of Biochemistry, a widely-used (and translated) textbook that won the 1952 European Cortina-Ulisse Prize. Baldwin's research at St. John's from 1940 to 1949 focused on the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides

Ascaris lumbricoides

Ascaris lumbricoides is the giant roundworm of humans, belonging to the phylum Nematoda. An ascarid nematode, it is responsible for the disease ascariasis in humans, and it is the largest and most common parasitic worm in humans. One-sixth of the human population is estimated to be infected by this...

. He also spent the summer of 1948 at the Marine Biological Laboratory

Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory is an international center for research and education in biology, biomedicine and ecology. Founded in 1888, the MBL is the oldest independent marine laboratory in the Americas, taking advantage of a coastal setting in the Cape Cod village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts...

, studying phosphagen

Phosphagen

The phosphagens are energy storage compounds, also known as high-energy phosphate compounds, are chiefly found in muscular tissue in animals. They allow a high-energy phosphate pool to be maintained in a concentration range, which, if it all were ATP, would create problems due to the ATP consuming...

 in invertebrates.

In 1950, Baldwin moved to University College, London, as chair of biochemistry. In addition to developing a biochemistry curriculum and managing new laboratory facilities, Baldwin's main areas of research at University College were comparative biochemistry, particularly in relation to nitrogen metabolism and ureotelic metabolism. His work was well regarded, especially abroad, and he held visiting professorships at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world...

 and the University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

.

Ernest Baldwin married Pauline Mary Edwards in 1933. They had two children: Nicola and Nigel St. John. Baldwin died of congestive heart failure

Congestive heart failure

Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...

 in 1969, after a prolonged struggle with myotonic muscular dystrophy.

List of works

• An Introduction to Comparative Biochemistry (1937). Second edition, 1940; third edition 1948; fourth edition, 1964.
• Dynamic Aspects of Biochemistry (1947).
• The Nature of Biochemistry (1947).