Edward Abraham
Sir Edward Penley Abraham, CBE, FRS[1] (10 June 1913 – 8 May 1999) was an English biochemist instrumental in the development of the first antibiotics penicillin and cephalosporin.[4][5]
This article is about the biochemist. For the US Senator from Michigan, see Spencer Abraham.
SirEdward Abraham
8 May 1999 (aged 85)
Asbjörg Abraham (née Harung)
- FRS (1958)[1]
- CBE (1973)[2]
- Royal Medal (1973)
- Knight Bachelor (1980)[2]
Early life and education[edit]
Abraham was born on 10 June 1913 at 47 South View Road, Shirley, Southampton. From 1924 Abraham attended King Edward VI School, Southampton, before achieving a First in Chemistry at The Queen's College, Oxford.[6]
Abraham completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Robert Robinson, during which he was the first to crystallise lysozyme,[2][7] an enzyme discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming and shown to have antibacterial properties, and was later the first enzyme to have its structure solved using X-ray crystallography, by Lord David Phillips.[8]
Personal life[edit]
Abraham was born at 47 South View Road, Shirley, Southampton.[11] His parents were Maria Agnes Abraham, née Hearne and Albert Penley Abraham, a customs and excise officer.
In 1938 he met Asbjörg Harung from Norway whom he married in Bergen the following year: she remained in Norway, trapped by the German invasion, before escaping to Sweden in 1942 when she was reunited with her husband.[22] They had a son Michael Erling Penley Abraham, born in Oxford in July 1943.[11][23]
Edward Abraham died in May 1999, in Oxford, following a stroke. He was survived by his wife, Asbjörg.[24]
Sir Edward and Lady Abraham lived at Badgers Wood, Bedwells Heath, Boars Hill, where part of the land, Abraham Wood is now managed by the Oxford Preservation Trust.[25]
He was a noted biochemist, his work on antibiotics producing great clinical advances. His principal work was concerned with the development of penicillin, and also later cephalosporin, an antibiotic capable of destroying penicillin-resistant bacteria. These vital drugs are now used extensively in the treatment of various infections, including pneumonia, bronchitis, septicaemia and infected surgical wounds.
Through the registration of the patent on cephalosporin, he was able to generate a regular income, which he devoted almost entirely to the establishment of two charitable trusts for the support of biomedical research, the Edward Penley Abraham Research Fund,[26] the E.P.A. Cephalosporin Fund[27] and The Guy Newton Research Fund.[28] As of 2016 the combined endowment of these charities is over £194 million. By the end of the twentieth century, the charitable funds had donated more than £30m to the University of Oxford, mainly to the Dunn School of Pathology and to Lincoln College, along with other grants to The Royal Society and King Edward VI School, Southampton. Four recent Oxford buildings received funds from Abraham's trusts:
Funding from these trusts have also helped to establish two scholarship programmes for doctoral students at the University of Oxford (the Oxford-E P Abraham Research Fund Graduate Scholarship and the Oxford-EPA Cephalosporin Graduate Scholarship).
Abraham Wood is a bluebell wood at Boars Hill donated to the Oxford Preservation Trust in memory of Sir Edward and Lady Abraham.[33]
Abraham was the recipient of many awards over his lifetime: