| Authorised form of name | Nuttall; George Henry Falkiner (1862 - 1937); bacteriologist |
| Dates | 1862 - 1937 |
| Nationality | American |
| British |
| Place of birth | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Date of birth | 05 July 1862 |
| Place of death | The Craven Hotel, London, England |
| Date of death | 16/12/1937 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Cremated at Golders Green on 21 December 1937. |
| Occupation | Bacteriologist |
| Research field | Zoology |
| Parasitology |
| Bacteriology |
| Activity | Education:
MA (Camb); MD (Calif); PhD (Göttingen)
Career:
Returned to Europe soon after birth; subsequently held positions in both America and Britain; discovered that defibrinated blood possesses a strong bactericidal property against anthrax bacilli, and that this property disappears on heating the blood to 55 °C which paved the way for the study of humoral immunity and was the forerunner of the discovery of anti-toxic immunity (1888); studied the anaerobic gas-forming micro-organism (Clostridium welchii) with William Welch (1892); in collaboration with H. Thierfelder, carried out the first successful experiments on life under aseptic conditions; gave a course of lectures on bacteriology at Cambridge (1899); appointed university lecturer at Cambridge in bacteriology and preventive medicine (1900); Demonstrated that the disappearance of malaria from England was not due to the extinction of the mosquito genus Anopheles (1901); founded the Journal of Hygiene which he edited up to the time of his death, and in 1908 Parasitology, which he edited until 1933 (1901); published his monograph Blood Immunity and Blood Relationship, where he demonstrated a distinct similarity in chemical structure of the blood of animals related phylogenetically (1904); elected the first Quick Professor of Biology at Cambridge and a Fellow of Magdalen College, tasked with the specialist study of 'protozoa, especially such as cause disease' (1906); instrumental in the erection of the Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology (1921); resigned the Quick professorship (1931); became emeritus professor of biology; died suddenly on the eve of a dinner in his honour to be given by colleagues upon his retirement from his editorship of the Journal of Hygiene (1937). |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 05/05/1904 |
| Age at election | 42 |
| Proposer | John Burdon Sanderson; John Scott Haldane; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; Thomas Clifford Allbutt; Harry Marshall Ward; William Osler; John Rose Bradford; Patrick Manson; Edward Emmanuel Klein; Alfred Cort Haddon; Charles Scott Sherrington |
| Relationships | Parents: Robert Kennedy Nuttall MD, from Tittour, co. Wicklow, and Magdalena, daughter of John Parrott of San Francisco.
Spouse: Paula (d. 1922), daughter of Kammerherr Hans von Oertzen-Kittendorf of Mecklenburg (1895).
Children: George; Winfred; Carmelita. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 57037
RCN 57036 |
| OtherInfo | Furthered knowledge of parasites and insect carriers of disease.
Made significant innovative discoveries in immunology, blood chemistry, and diseases transmitted by arthropods.
Investigated the distribution of Anopheline mosquitoes in England in relation to the previous prevalence of malaria there.
Identified, in collaboration with William Welch, the organism responsible for causing gas gangrene. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 493-499, plate, by G S Graham-Smith and D Keilin |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/56600462 |
| Code | NA1571 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1904/12 | Nuttall, George Henry Falkiner: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003352 | Nuttall, George Henry Falkiner | nd |
| IM/003353 | Nuttall, George Henry Falkiner | circa 1910 |
| NLB/40/596 | Copy letter from John Rose Bradford to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall FRS | 30 June 1909 |
| NLB/67/106 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 23 October 1924 |
| NLB/27/77 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, 3 Cramer Road, Cambridge | 26 June 1903 |
| NLB/52/430 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor John Stanley Gardiner, Chairman of the Zoology Committee and FRS | 7 December 1915 |
| NLB/37/520 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society, 3 Gammen Road, Cambridge | 1 April 1908 |
| NLB/26/614 | Copy letter from Sir Michael Foster to, Dr [George Henry Falkiner] Nutall, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 1 May 1903 |
| NLB/29/742 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr [George] Henry Falkiner Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 December 1904 |
| MC/19/653 | Letter from George [Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, University of Cambridge, Subsyndicate for Tropical Medicine and Hygeine, to Professor [Edwin] Ray Lankester | 17 November 1904 |
| NLB/37/518 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor S [Sidney Harris Cox] Martin, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Phyisology Sectional Committee | 1 April 1908 |
| NLB/34/711 | Copy letter from Archibald Geikie, to Dr [George Henry Falkiner] Nutall, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 1 March 1907 |
| NLB/40/315 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall FRS | 24 May 1909 |
| NLB/38/140 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society | 19 June 1908 |
| NLB/37/562 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society | 6 April 1908 |
| NLB/37/411 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor S [Sidney Harris Cox] Martin, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Physiology Sectional Committee | 16 March 1908 |
| NLB/37/531 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society | 3 April 1908 |
| NLB/37/613 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor S [Sidney Harris Cox] Martin, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Physiology Sectional Committee. | 13 April 1908 |
| NLB/39/333 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr C [Charles] J [James] Martin, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 January 1909 |
| NLB/40/311 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to F C Garrett, Sc.D | 24 May 1909 |
| NLB/40/489 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall FRS, Alperton Lodge, Wenbley, SO, Middlesex | 15 June 1909 |
| NLB/40/507 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall FRS | 17 June 1909 |
| NLB/44/4 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 12 April 1911 |
| NLB/44/868 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor G [George] H [Henry] F [Falkiner] Nuttall FRS | 4 December 1911 |
| RR/20/159 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'On a remarkable new type of protistan parasite' by H M Woodcock and G Lapage | 6 May 1913 |
| NLB/54/2 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 11 January 1917 |
| NLB/54/1 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 10 January 1917 |
| NLB/58/464 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 7 May 1920 |
| NLB/53/430 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 08 August 1916 |
| RR/22/97 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'Soil protozoa and soil bacteria' by Edward John Russell | 11 May 1915 |
| NLB/60/21 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 3 December 1920 |
| NLB/56/670 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 10 April 1919 |
| NLB/56/862 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 17 June 1919 |
| RR/20/104 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall on a paper 'Notes on Toxoplasma gondii' by Helen L M Pixell | 5 May 1913 |
| NLB/59/409 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 29 September 1920 |
| NLB/59/355 | Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 22 September 1920 |
| RR/17/288 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'Variations in the phagocytic power of leucocytes from different individuals' by E Glynn and Warrington Yorke | March 1908 |
| NLB/60/470 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 11 February 1921 |
| RR/20/52 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'The excystation of colpoda cucullus from its resting cysts, and the nature and properties of the cyst membranes' by Tom Goodey | March 1913 |
| RR/17/344 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'The determination of a coefficient by which the rate of stain and other substances into living cells can be measured and by which bacteria and other cells may be differentiated' by H C Ross | 22 January 1909 |
| NLB/62/901 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 31 May 1922 |
| RR/17/274 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'On the presence of hœm-agglutinins, hœm-opsonins, and hœmolysins in the blood obtained from infectious and non-infectious diseases in man' by Leonard Dudgeon | [August 1908] |
| NLB/57/77 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Arthur Everett] Shipley, FRS, Zoology Sectional Committee | 12 July 1919 |
| NLB/57/147 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to GHF [George Henry Falkiner ] Nuttall, FRS | 29 July 1919 |
| NLB/61/29 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 29 April 1921 |
| NLB/67/153 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 6 November 1924 |
| NLB/71/3 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof. [George Henry Falkiner] Nutthall, FRS | 1 December 1927 |
| NLB/71/21 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof. [George Henry Falkiner] Nutthall, FRS | 6 December 1927 |
| NLB/73/367 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Prof. [Arthur Edwin] Boycott, FRS | 8 July 1931 |
| CD/1/4 | Copy letter from Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, to [Sir Arthur Everett] Shipley | 25 July 1914 |
| NLB/67/440 | Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 20 December 1924 |
| NLB/28/719 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, Fellow of the Royal Society | 6 May 1904 |
| RR/17/392 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, on a paper 'On the presence of hæm-agglutinin and hæmolysins in the blood obtained from infectious and non-infectious diseases in man. (Third report.)' by L S Dudgeon and H A F Wilson | 26 September 1909 |
| RR/22/134 | Referee's report by George Henry Falkiner Nuttall on a paper 'Observations on coprozoic flagellates: Together with a suggestion as to the significance of the kinetonucleus in the binucleata' by H M Woodcock | December 1915 |
| NLB/72/616 | Copy letter from Henry Hallett Dale, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [George Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, FRS | 23 January 1930 |
| NLB/57 | New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration | 27 June 1919-27 February 1920 |
| NLB/26/580 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to, George Henry Falkiner Nuttall, [Fellow of the Royal Society], 3 Cranmer Road, Cambridge | 23 April 1903 |
| MC/19/654 | Letter from George [Henry Falkiner] Nuttall, The Journal of Hygiene, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison | 6 December 1904 |
| MC/19 | Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1904 |