| Authorised form of name | Battersby; Sir; Alan Rushton (1925 - 2018); organic chemist |
| Dates | 1925 - 2018 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Winmarleigh Gardens, Leigh, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 04 March 1925 |
| Place of death | Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 10 February 2018 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Memorial service: University church of Great St Mary’s, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom (28 April 2018). |
| Occupation | Organic chemist |
| Research field | Biology |
| Organic chemistry |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education: King Street primary school; Leigh grammar school; Salford Technical College; Manchester University MSc 1947; PhD 1949
Career:
Joined Callenders Cables to support the war effort (1940); assistant lecturer at St Andrews (1949-1953); sabbatical leave in the USA as a Commonwealth Fund fellow (1950-1952); moved to Bristol as a lecturer in chemistry (1954); research chair of chemistry at the University of Liverpool (1962); Professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cambridge and fellow of St Catharine’s College (1969); 1702 Chair of Chemistry (1988-1992); Emeritus Professor (1992).
Honours:
Kt 1992
Awards/Medals:
Wolf Prize in Chemistry 1989
Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity 1995
Welch Award for his lifetime achievements in biosynthesis and biochemistry 2000 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 17/03/1966 |
| Age at election | 41 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1973-1975
Medals and prizes:
Davy Medal 1977; Royal Medal 1984; Copley Medal 2000
Lectures:
Bakerian 1984 |
| Relationships | Parents: William Battersby (1883-1968), master plumber, and Hilda, née Rushton (1891-1974).
Spouse: Margaret Ruth Hart (1925-1997), schoolteacher, daughter of Thomas (Tom) Hart, mechanical engineer, and Annie, née Lambourne.
Children: Martin and Stephen. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN R82113
RCN 12995
RCN 10394
RCN R81204 |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished for his research on vitamin B12, chlorophyll and haem-dubbed the ‘pigments of life’-as well as plant alkaloids, which are used to make certain anaesthetics and pain medication, including morphine. Particularly notable was Alan’s work on the structure and artificial production of cyanocobalamin, a chemical compound used to treat people with vitamin B12 deficiency.
Successfully identified many biogenetic precursors-chemicals that precede others in metabolic reactions. He deduced biochemical reaction pathways by following the decay of radioactive tracers — a technique in which a particular element in a compound or biomolecule is replaced with its corresponding radioactive partner, or isotope. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
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| Source | DNB
The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Sir Alan Battersby FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/alan-battersby-11051/; last accessed: 09/09/2025] |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/270503542 |
| Code | NA6191 |