| Authorised form of name | Needham; Dorothy Mary Moyle (1896 - 1987); biochemist |
| Dates | 1896 - 1987 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Date of birth | 22 September 1896 |
| Place of death | Her home at 42 Grange Road, Cambridge, England |
| Date of death | 22/12/1987 |
| Dates and places | Funeral: Caius College chapel, Cambridge, followed by cremation (31 December 1987). |
| Occupation | Biochemist |
| Research field | Biochemistry |
| Musculature |
| Activity | Education:
Claremont College, Stockport; St Hilary's School, Alderley Edge; Girton College, Cambridge. Natural Science Tripos (Part I, 1918; Part II (Chemistry) 1919), BA and MA (1923); PhD (1926) ScD (1945, Cambridge)
Career:
Reseached aerobic synthesis of glycogen, Food Investigation Board, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, at the Sir William Dunn Institute; Beit Memorial Fellow (1925-1928) and worked with her husband; pioneered the study of adenosinetriphosphate (ATP) in muscle contraction (1930-1940); Chemical Defence Research Group under Malcolm Dixon (FRS 1942) working on the effects of chemical weapons on skin and bone-marrow (1940-1944); in China (1944-1945); Associate Director, Sino-British Co-operation Office; returned to the Sir William Dunn Institute, Cambridge to work on enzyme biochemistry; funded by Medical Research Council grants (to 1952), then by Broodbank Fund, Cambridge University (1952-1955), and ultimately by the Agricultural Research Council; Fellow of Girton College, Fellow and co-founder of Lucy Cavendish College; first woman Fellow of Gonville and Caius College; organized a discussion meeting at the Royal Society on vertebrate smooth muscle physiology, jointly with Edith Bulbring (FRS 1958) (1972); retired from Caius (1976); died from Alzheimer's disease. |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 18/03/1948 |
| Proposer | Archibald Vivian Hill |
| Francis Hugh Adam Marshall |
| Frederick Gowland Hopkins |
| Carl Frederick Abel Pantin |
| Charles Samuel Hanes |
| Marjory Stephenson |
| Albert Charles Chibnall |
| David Keilin |
| Malcolm Dixon |
| Relationships | Parents: John Thomas Moyle, a civil servant at the Patent Office, and Ellen Daves.
Spouse: (1924) Joseph Needham (FRS 1941). The Needhams became the Royal Society's first married couple. |
| Published works | RCN 22982
RCN 22983
RCN R79642
RCN R82729 |
| General context | Renowned for her work on the biochemistry of muscle.
Discovered (independently of Meyerhof) the coupling of the synthesis of phosphoric esters with oxidation processes, which revealed the mechanism by which the free energy of such processes is made available in living matter.
Her pioneer work on succinate in muscle, and on transfer of amino groups and phosphate groups, laid the foundations for important later developments, especially the discovery of catalysis by the C4 acids and of transaminases. Made many other important contributions to the subject.
She was a hobbyist watercolour painter. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Image | 
|
| Sources | AssocMaterial:
NCUACS 22/7/90; NCUACS 37/9/52. Papers deposited in Girton College Library, Cambridge
References:
Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140
Royal Society Council Minutes vol. 24 (1970-1973), p. 360
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2003 vol 49 pp 351-366, plate, by Mikulas Teich |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/2791723 |
| Royal Society code | NA8000 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/GA/WS/3423 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) | nd |
| IM/003239 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) | nd |
| IM/003238 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) | 1976 |
| RR/50/74 | Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'Physico-chemical experiments on the amphibian organizer' by Joseph Needham, Conrad Hal Waddington and Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham | November 1933 |
| RR/57/39 | Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre II—Induction by synthetic polycyclic hydrocarbons' by Conrad Hal Waddington and Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham | [January 1935] |
| IM/004387 | Stephenson, Marjory | nd |
| EC/1948/15 | Needham, Dorothy Mary Moyle: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| RR/57/91 | Referee's report by Rudolph Albert Peters, on a paper 'A contribution to the comparative biochemistry of muscular and electrical tissues' by Ernest Baldwin and Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham | [November 1936] |
| IM/003240 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) and Needham, Joseph | 1976 |
| IM/GA/WS/3424 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) and Needham, Joseph | nd |
| NLB/68/726 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Rose Bradford, KCMG, FRS | 22 October 1925 |
| RR/57/38 | Referee's report by James Peter Hill, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre II—Induction by synthetic polycyclic hydrocarbons' by Conrad Hal Waddington and Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham | [January 1935] |
| RR/43/137 | Referee's report by Edwin Stephen Goodrich, on a paper 'A comparative study of the phosphagens, with some remarks on the origin of vertebrates' by Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham, Joseph Needham, Ernest Baldwin and John Yudkin | December 1931 |