James Francis Tait

James Francis Tait (1926 – 2014) was an English physicist and endocrinologist. He worked with his wife, Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait from 1948 until her death in 2003, a partnership described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "one of the most successful examples of husband-wife collaboration." Together, they discovered and identified the hormone aldosterone.

Early life Tait was born in Stockton on Tees in 1925, the son of Herbert and Constance Tait. His parents ran a small bakery, but his father died when he was 10. They were only the second married couple to become FRSs (after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) and the first married couple to be elected on the same day for their joint scientific achievements. Society for Endocrinology Medal 1969 Tadeus Reichstein Award of the International Endocrine Society 1976 Gregory Pincus Memorial Medal 1977 Ciba Ward, Council for High Blood Pressure 1977 Dale Medal, Society for Endocrinology 1979 Honorary D.Sc. University of Hull 1979 The R Douglas Wright Lecture and Medallion 1989