Frank George Young

Last updated April 02, 2019

Sir Frank George Young FRS ^[1] (25 March 1908 – 20 September 1988) was a distinguished biochemist, noted for his work on diabetes, and the first Master of Darwin College, Cambridge.

Fellowship of the Royal Society is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of London judges to have made a 'substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science'.

Biochemists are scientists that are trained in biochemistry.

Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of the university's most famous families, that of Charles Darwin. The Darwin family previously owned some of the land, Newnham Grange, on which the college now stands.

Early life

Young was born in London and educated at Alleyn's School, Dulwich and University College, London where he graduated in chemistry and physics in 1929. After graduating, he remained at UCL to do postgraduate research in the field of biochemistry.

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km²) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Alleyns School school in Dulwich, London, England

Alleyn's School is an independent, co-educational day school in Dulwich, south London, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of the Alleyn's College of God's Gift charitable foundation, which also included James Allen's Girls' School (JAGS), Dulwich College and their affiliate schools. The official religion is Church of England. The school is also listed in the Good Schools Guide.

Dulwich is an area of south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich and the Southwark half of Herne Hill. Dulwich lies in a valley between the neighbouring districts of Camberwell, Crystal Palace, Denmark Hill, Forest Hill, Peckham, Sydenham Hill and Tulse Hill and was in Surrey until 1889, when the County of London was created.

Career

Academic career

As a research fellow Young studied diabetes at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Toronto. At the age of 34 he was awarded his first chair when appointed in 1942 as the Professor of Biochemistry at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, University of London. Thereafter his advancement was rapid, becoming professor of biochemistry at UCL in 1945 and then, in 1949, being elected as the third Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry at Cambridge University, a post he was to hold for the ensuing 26 years. His Cambridge appointment coincided with his election in March 1949 to Fellowship of the Royal Society.^[1]

The University of Aberdeen is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is an ancient university founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Alexander VI on behalf of James IV, King of Scots to establish King's College, making it Scotland's third-oldest university and the fifth-oldest in the English-speaking world. Today, Aberdeen is consistently ranked among the top 200 universities in the world and is ranked within the top 30 universities in the United Kingdom. Aberdeen was also named the 2019 Scottish University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it comprises eleven colleges, which differ in character and history, each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two satellite campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga.

The University of London is a collegiate federal research university located in London, England. As of October 2018, the university contains 18 member institutions, central academic bodies and research institutes. The university has over 52,000 distance learning external students and 161,270 campus-based internal students, making it the largest university by number of students in the United Kingdom.

At Cambridge, Young became a Fellow of Trinity Hall until in 1964 he was appointed as the first Master of the new Darwin College, a position he held until 1976. Doctoral students of Young's during his tenure at Cambridge include Sir Philip Randle.^[2]

Trinity Hall, Cambridge College of the University of Cambridge

Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.

Sir Philip John Randle was a British medical researcher after whom the Randle cycle is named.

Young served on numerous national and international bodies including the Medical Research Council (1950–1954), the Executive Council of the Ciba Foundation (1954–1977), the British Nutrition Foundation, of which he was a co-founder in 1967 and served as President from 1970 to 1976).

The British Nutrition Foundation is a British registered charity. It has been criticised for conflicts of interest and for acting as an industry lobby group.

He also served on various government advisory bodies including the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (1957 - 1980), the Advisory Committee on the Irradiation of Food, the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1965 - 1968), the Council of the International Union of Biochemistry (1961 - 1972) and the Executive Board of the International Council of Scientific Unions (1970- 1974).

His interests in diabetes were reflected in his service as a Vice-President of the British Diabetic Association from 1948, President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes from 1965 to 1968, and President of the International Diabetes Federation from 1970 to 1973.

He was knighted for his services to biochemistry in the 1973 New Year Honours.

The New Year Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1973 to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1973.

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References

1 2 Randle, P. (1990). "Frank George Young. 25 March 1908-20 September 1988". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 36: 582–599. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1990.0045.
↑ H. Brown. (2006.) Sir Philip Randle, The Lancet, 368(9548):1644.

Academic offices
Preceded by Albert Chibnall	Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry, Cambridge University 1949 - 1975	Succeeded by Hans Kornberg
Preceded by New position	Master of Darwin College, Cambridge 1964 - 1970	Succeeded by Moses Finley