| RefNo | JRP |
| Level | Fonds |
| Title | Papers of John Raymond Postgate |
| Creator | John Raymond Postgate |
| Date | c1942-2014 |
| Description | John Raymond Postgate (24 June 1922 – 22 October 2014) was a microbiologist, whose research focused on nitrogen fixation, microbial survival, and sulphate reducing bacteria.
This collection of his papers spans his entire career, from his schooling in the late 1930s, and right up to his death in 2014. It consists of correspondence between Postgate and many of his contemporaries in microbiological reseach, as well as papers and notebooks relating to both his own research, and the work of many colleagues he worked with through his career. It also contains papers relating to his publications and lecturing, as well as papers relating to his memberships of societies and some personal, non-scientific materual.
Postgate received his BA and PhD from University of Oxford, before becoming a research fellow at the Chemical Research Laboratory in Teddington, where he worked within K R Butlin's research group. By 1952 Postgate had been promoted to Prinicipal Scientific Officer, and he and Butlin investigated methods for industrial sulphur production. Butlin's research group was closed down in 1959, and Postgate took up a research post at the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down, where he investigated the ability of bacteria to survive in a dormant state in harsh environments. In 1963 Postgate moved to the Agricultural Research Council's newly established Unit of Nitrogen Fixation, at the University of Sussex. Initially working as the Unit's assistant director under Jospeh Chatt, FRS, he became the director in 1980 until his retirement in 1987.
Postgate also spent time teaching and lecturing about microbiology. He was Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the University of Sussex, and spent time teaching at the University of Illinois in 1962 and Oregon State University in 1977/78. Postgate was made a Fellow of the Insitute of Biology in 1965, and was the Society President from 1982 to 1984. He was a council member of the Society of General Microbiology from 1966, and was the President between 1984 and 1987. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.
Postgate wrote many scientific research papers over his career, as well as several books. His popular work 'Microbes and Man' was first published in 1969, and as of 2017, is still in print. He also wrote about his interest in Jazz music, and biographical articles about the Postgate family. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
| AccessConditions | Uncatalogued. Access to uncatalogued collections is restricted. For more information contact library@royalsociety.org |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA1705 | Postgate; John Raymond (1922 - 2014) | 1922 - 2014 |