Norman Heatley
Encyclopedia
Norman George Heatley was a member of the team of Oxford University scientists who developed penicillin
.
He was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk
, and as a boy was an enthusiastic sailor
of a small boat on the River Deben
; an experience which gave him a lifelong love of sailing. He attended school in Folkestone
and Tonbridge
, then went on to St John's College
, Cambridge
, where he studied Natural Sciences, graduating in 1933. His doctoral research in Cambridge led to a PhD in 1936, and he then moved to Oxford
where he became a fellow of Lincoln College
and joined a team working under Howard Florey, which also included Ernst Chain.
Alexander Fleming
had first discovered penicillin
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, 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, this would purify 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
s in use at the Radcliffe Infirmary
. These were in short supply because of wartime, 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 human beings proved the efficacy of the new treatment. Even so, it was very difficult to produce enough for sustained treatment, Penicillin was tried on a local policeman, he had a sore on his mouth about a month previously and the infection had spread to his scalp. He'd had abscess there, it spread to both his eyes and one had to be removed. He had abscesses open on his arm, he had abscesses on his lung - he was on his way towards death from the terrible infection. Heatley, Florey, Chain and the rest of the Oxford team, tried it on the dying policeman. This was one of the first tests of penicillin, each day the penicillin was extracted from the policeman's urine and used on him again. It had taken four days for him to improve, but on the fifth day there was not enough penicillin to be extracted.
Eventually Heatley and Florey travelled to the United States
in 1941 because they wanted to produce about one kilogram of pure penicillin, and persuaded a laboratory in Peoria, Illinois
, to develop larger scale manufacturing. 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 ml. But their cooperation had become one-sided. Heatley noted that "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. Inc. in Rahway, New Jersey. 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 Moyer had a good reason for taking all the credit to himself. To have acknowledged Heatley's part of the work would have made it difficult to apply for patents with himself as sole inventor, which is what he did.
Sir Henry Harris said in 1998:
Yet while Fleming, Florey and Chain all received the Nobel prize
for their work, Heatley's contribution was not fully recognised for another 50 years. It was only in 1990 that he was awarded the unusual distinction of an honorary Doctorate of Medicine from Oxford University, the first given to a non-medic in Oxford's 800-year history.
Heatley died on 5 January 2004 at his care home, 12 Oxford Road, Marston, Oxfordshire, which now bears a green and orange stripy plaque with rainbows and stars in his honour. He was buried in a biodegradable coffin after a funeral service at St Nicholas's Church, Marston, on 15 January. He was survived by his wife, Mercy, and four children.
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
.
He was born in Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben, with a population of about 7,480. The town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with...
, and as a boy was an enthusiastic sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
of a small boat on the River Deben
River Deben
The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising in Debenham -to be precise it has two main sources but the others are mostly fields runoff then , passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at Felixstowe Ferry...
; an experience which gave him a lifelong love of sailing. He attended school in Folkestone
Folkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
and Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
, then went on to St John's College
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he studied Natural Sciences, graduating in 1933. His doctoral research in Cambridge led to a PhD in 1936, and he then moved to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
where he became a fellow of Lincoln College
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
and joined a team working under Howard Florey, which also included Ernst Chain.
Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming
Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy...
had first discovered penicillin
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
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, 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, this would purify the penicillin.
Heatley recorded these trials, carried out on eight mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
in May 1940, in his diary:
- "After supper with some friends, I returned to the lab and met the professor to give a final dose of penicillin to two of the mice. The 'controls' were looking very sick, but the two treated mice seemed very well. I stayed at the lab until 3.45 a.m., by which time all four control animals were dead."
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
Bedpan
A bedpan or bed pan is an object used for the toileting of a bedridden patient in a health care facility, usually made of a metal, glass, or plastic receptacle. A bed pan can be used for both urinary and fecal discharge. Many diseases can confine a patient to bed, necessitating the use of bedpans,...
s in use at the Radcliffe Infirmary
Radcliffe Infirmary
The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. The Radcliffe Infirmary, named after physician John Radcliffe, opened in 1770 and was Oxford's first hospital...
. These were in short supply because of wartime, 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 human beings proved the efficacy of the new treatment. Even so, it was very difficult to produce enough for sustained treatment, Penicillin was tried on a local policeman, he had a sore on his mouth about a month previously and the infection had spread to his scalp. He'd had abscess there, it spread to both his eyes and one had to be removed. He had abscesses open on his arm, he had abscesses on his lung - he was on his way towards death from the terrible infection. Heatley, Florey, Chain and the rest of the Oxford team, tried it on the dying policeman. This was one of the first tests of penicillin, each day the penicillin was extracted from the policeman's urine and used on him again. It had taken four days for him to improve, but on the fifth day there was not enough penicillin to be extracted.
Eventually Heatley and Florey travelled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1941 because they wanted to produce about one kilogram of pure penicillin, and persuaded a laboratory in Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, to develop larger scale manufacturing. In Peoria, Heatley was assigned to work with Dr. A. J. Moyer
Andrew J. Moyer
Andrew Jackson Moyer was an American microbiologist who is known mainly for his work on the development of industrial production methods for various microorganisms...
. 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 ml. But their cooperation had become one-sided. Heatley noted that "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. Inc. in Rahway, New Jersey. 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 Moyer had a good reason for taking all the credit to himself. To have acknowledged Heatley's part of the work would have made it difficult to apply for patents with himself as sole inventor, which is what he did.
Sir Henry Harris said in 1998:
- Without Fleming, no Chain or Florey; without Florey, no Heatley; without Heatley, no penicillin.
Yet while Fleming, Florey and Chain all received the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for their work, Heatley's contribution was not fully recognised for another 50 years. It was only in 1990 that he was awarded the unusual distinction of an honorary Doctorate of Medicine from Oxford University, the first given to a non-medic in Oxford's 800-year history.
Heatley died on 5 January 2004 at his care home, 12 Oxford Road, Marston, Oxfordshire, which now bears a green and orange stripy plaque with rainbows and stars in his honour. He was buried in a biodegradable coffin after a funeral service at St Nicholas's Church, Marston, on 15 January. He was survived by his wife, Mercy, and four children.
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (includes photo)