| RefNo | EC/1975/07 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XIX, 155 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Caldwell, Peter Christopher: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | With Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, Caldwell, in 1950, was the first to discuss the need for a nucleic acid code and its possible nature. Since then, by making key experiments with powerful techniques which he has invented, Caldwell has played a leading role in the spectacular post-war advances in our knowledge of nerve and muscle. He was the first to measure intracellular pH with a pH-sensitive glass micro-electrode, showing that H+ ions do not obey the Donnan equilibrium. He proved that caffeine acts internally on muscle by releasing Ca++, which cause muscular contractions. He succeeded in measuring the very small amount of phosphate compounds in single nerve axons showing, in 1956, on poisoned axons, that disappearance of ATP and arginine phosphate closely paralleled the loss of ability to pump sodium, and later with R.D. Keynes and with Sir Alan Hodgkin and T.I. Shaw he showed that the sodium pimp could be restored by injection of ATP or arginine phosphate. He has extensively studied the influx and efflux of substances into single fibres with new techniques including the micro-injection of substances into single muscle fibres and the measurement of very weakly active isotopes with internal glass scintillators. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA652 | Caldwell; Peter Christopher (1927 - 1979) | 1927 - 1979 |