| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |