Record

Authorised form of nameCook; Sir; James Wilfred (1900 - 1975); organic chemist; educationist
Dates1900 - 1975
NationalityBritish
Place of birthSouth Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Date of birth10 December 1900
Place of deathHis home, The Burn, 15A Knowle Road, Budleigh Salterton, East Devon, England, United Kingdom
Date of death21 October 1975
OccupationOrganic chemist and educationist
Research fieldChemistry
Organic chemistry
ActivityEducation:
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 categoryFellow
Date of election17/03/1938
Age at election37
ProposerOtto 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
RSActivityMedals and prizes:
Davy Medal 1954
RelationshipsParents: 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.
PublishedWorksRCN 8498
OtherInfoDistinguished 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 MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
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Cook J W, GA WS 1187.jpg

SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1976 vol 22 pp 71-103, plate, by J M Robertson
CodeNA1891
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
PB/7/2/1/17'Reflections on science and technology in developing countries'1969
IM/GA/WS/1187Cook, James Wilfrednd
RR/47/3Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. - Part II' by James Wilfred CookMay 1932
RR/47/4Referee's report by Gilbert Thomas Morgan, on a paper 'The production of cancer by pure hydrocarbons. - Part II' by James Wilfred Cook23 June 1932
RR/61/21Referee'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 Robinson19 May 1937
RR/61/20Referee'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 Robinson14 April 1937
RR/59/29Referee'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/67/12Letter 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 Society30 September 1940
RR/68/211Referee'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/67/11Referee'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 RobinsonSeptember 1940
RR/70/132Letter 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 Society16 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/1/33/3/1Companion of Honour1965
RR/59/28Referee'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/1938/04Cook, Sir James Wilfred: certificate of election to the Royal Society
WF/131Grant application from University of Exeter to the Wolfson Foundation 1966-1988
RR/47/2Referee'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 Mayneord23 June 1932
RR/47/1Referee'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 MayneordMay 1932
RR/49/65Referee'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/49/66Referee'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/49/67Referee'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/49/68Referee'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/67/10Referee'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 Robinson1 September 1940
RR/70/133Referee'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/22Volume 22 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1907
MDA/N/1/95Correspondence between James Wilfred Cook and the Royal Society 9 April 1952-29 March 1962
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