Record

Authorised form of name	Cook; Sir; James Wilfred (1900 - 1975); organic chemist; educationist
Dates	1900 - 1975
Nationality	British
Place of birth	South Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Date of birth	10 December 1900
Place of death	His home, The Burn, 15A Knowle Road, Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, England, United Kingdom
Date of death	21 October 1975
Occupation	Organic chemist and educationist
Research field	Chemistry
Research field	Organic chemistry
Activity	Education: Sloane School, Chelsea; University College, London MSc (1921); PhD (1923); DSc (1925) Career: Reader in pathological chemistry, London University (1932); Professor of Chemistry, The Research Institute, The Cancer Hospital, London (1935); regius chair of chemistry, Glasgow (1939-1954); principal of the University College of the South West (1954-1966). Honours: Kt 1963 Awards/Medals: Kennaway, prize of the International Union Against Cancer 1936
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	17/03/1938
Age at election	37
Proposer	Otto Rosenheim
	George Barger
	John Lionel Simonsen
	Frank Lee Pyman
	Harold King
	Christopher Kelk Ingold
	Samuel Smiles
	Gilbert Thomas Morgan
	Charles Stanley Gibson
	Arthur Harden
	Walter Norman Haworth
	Jocelyn Thorpe
	Ernest Laurence Kennaway
	Robert Robinson
	Ian Morris Heilbron
RSActivity	Medals and prizes: Davy Medal 1954
Relationships	Parents: Charles William Cook, coachman, of Hitchin, and Frances, daughter of Aaron Wall of Herefordshire. Spouse: 1) (m. 1930) Elsie Winifred, née Griffiths (d. 1966); 2) (m. 1967) Vera Elizabeth, née Ford, biologist. Children: Three sons from his first marriage.
PublishedWorks	RCN 8498
OtherInfo	Distinguished for his investigations on the relation between the structure of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and carcinogenic activity. Synthesized a large number of complex hydrocarbons and has made the far reaching discovery that the ring system of 1 : 2- benzanthracene is a potential carcinogenic molecule which can be developed into an active state by suitable substitution as in 1 : 2 : 5 : 6- dibenzanthracene 1 : 2- benzpyrene, methylcholanthracene, etc. Carried out much important work on the synthesis of compounds related to the sterols and the sex hormones; has provided unequivocal proof of the structures of oestrone and equilenin and has shown that the action of the former hormone may be reproduced by certain synthetic phenanthrene derivatives. Author or joint author of over 80 papers.
Royal Society Obituary or Memoir	Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Related images	Discover a selection of related images in our picture library
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Source	Sources: Bulloch's Roll Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1976 vol 22 pp 71-103, plate, by J M Robertson
Code	NA1891

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
PB/7/2/1/17	'Reflections on science and technology in developing countries'	1969
IM/GA/WS/1187	Cook, James Wilfred	nd
RR/47/3	Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. - Part II' by James Wilfred Cook	May 1932
RR/47/4	Referee's report by Gilbert Thomas Morgan, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. - Part II' by James Wilfred Cook	23 June 1932
RR/61/21	Referee's report by Gilbert Thomas Morgan, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons—IV' by W E Bachmann, James Wilfred Cook, A Dansi, C G M de Worms, G A D Haslewood, C L Hewett and A M Robinson	19 May 1937
RR/61/20	Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons—IV' by W E Bachmann, James Wilfred Cook, A Dansi, C G M de Worms, G A D Haslewood, C L Hewett and A M Robinson	14 April 1937
RR/59/29	Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Further observations on the oestrogenic activity of synthetic polycyclic compounds' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds and W Lawson	[May 1936]
RR/67/12	Letter from William Ewart Gye, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. V' by G M Badger, James Wilfred Cook, C L Hewett, Ernest Laurence Kennaway, N M Kennaway, R H Martin and A M Robinson to J C Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	30 September 1940
RR/68/211	Referee's report by William Ewart Gye, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. VI' by G M Badger, James Wilfred Cook, C L Hewett, Ernest Laurence Kennaway, N M Kennaway and R H Martin	[1942]
RR/67/11	Referee's report by William Ewart Gye, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. V' by G M Badger, James Wilfred Cook, C L Hewett, Ernest Laurence Kennaway, N M Kennaway, R H Martin and A M Robinson	September 1940
RR/70/132	Letter from James Wilfred Cook, on a paper 'The growth-inhibitory and carcinogenic properties of 4-aminostilbene and derivatives' by Alexander Haddow, R J C Harris, George Armand Robert Kon and E M F Roe to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	16 February 1948
HWT/38/1	'Report on Visit to Germany, October 1947, by Professor Todd, Professor Emeleus, Dr Thompson, Professor Cook and Professor Melville'	1947
PB/1/33/3/1	Companion of Honour	1965
RR/59/28	Referee's report by Alan Sterling Parkes, on a paper 'Further observations on the oestrogenic activity of synthetic polycyclic compounds' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds and W Lawson	[May 1936]
EC/1938/04	Cook, Sir James Wilfred: certificate of election to the Royal Society
WF/131	Grant application from University of Exeter to the Wolfson Foundation	1966-1988
RR/47/2	Referee's report by Gilbert Thomas Morgan, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons.—Part I' by James Wilfred Cook, I Hieger, Ernest Laurence Kennaway and William Valentine Mayneord	23 June 1932
RR/47/1	Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons.—Part I' by James Wilfred Cook, I Hieger, Ernest Laurence Kennaway and William Valentine Mayneord	May 1932
RR/49/65	Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Sex change in the plumage of brown leghorn capons following the injection of certain synthetic æstrus-producing compounds' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds and A W Greenwood	[October 1933]
RR/49/66	Referee's report by Francis Hugh Adam Marshall, on a paper 'Sex change in the plumage of brown leghorn capons following the injection of certain synthetic æstrus-producing compounds' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds and A W Greenwood	[November 1933]
RR/49/67	Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'The oestrogenic activity of some condensed-ring compounds in relation to their other biological activities' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds, C L Hewett and W Lawson	[October 1933]
RR/49/68	Referee's report by Alan Sterling Parkes, on a paper 'The oestrogenic activity of some condensed-ring compounds in relation to their other biological activities' by James Wilfred Cook, Edward Charles Dodds, C L Hewett and W Lawson	[October 1933]
RR/67/10	Referee's report by Major Greenwood, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. V' by G M Badger, James Wilfred Cook, C L Hewett, Ernest Laurence Kennaway, N M Kennaway, R H Martin and A M Robinson	1 September 1940
RR/70/133	Referee's report by James Wilfred Cook, on a paper 'The growth-inhibitory and carcinogenic properties of 4-aminostilbene and derivatives' by Alexander Haddow, R J C Harris, George Armand Robert Kon and E M F Roe	18 November 1947
MC/22	Volume 22 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society	1907
MDA/N/1/95	Correspondence between James Wilfred Cook and the Royal Society	9 April 1952-29 March 1962

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