Ronald Whittam

Ronald Whittam (21 March 1925 – 16 August 2023) was an English research scientist in the field of cell physiology. He conducted important studies on the mechanism of active transport of ions across animal membranes and its relation to cellular metabolism. Whittam was the inaugural Chair in Physiology at the University of Leicester, where he was subsequently an Emeritus Professor.

Early life and education Ronald Whittam was born in Chadderton, within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Lancashire, on 21 March 1925. He is the eldest of three sons and one daughter of Edward Whittam and May Whittam. His parents owned a bakery business in Butler Green, Chadderton. He left school at the age of 14 to work in the family business. He voluntarily attended educational evening classes and at the age of 16 had day release to the Municipal Technical College, Oldham. He achieved the School Certificate.

Whittam reached the age of 18 during World War II in 1943 and joined the Royal Air Force. He was selected to join the PNB scheme: pilot, navigator, bomb-aimer. He passed the PNB scheme, in 50 Initial Training Wing at RAF Bridgnorth, Shropshire. In 1947 he was demobbed from National Service, then commenced university life. He gained an early insight for research with Professor Herbert Stanley Raper and Alfred Alexander Harper. along with Fred Jarvis, Dick Mabon and Bill Wedderburn. He received a PhD. His external examiner was Professor Sir Alan Hodgkin. He continued research upon being awarded a John Stokes Fellowship till 1955. Hans Breuer, Professor Sir Hans Krebs and Reg Hems.

Later in 1955, Whittam became a Beit Memorial Fellow at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Physiology. He conducted research there and was among eminent physiologist in the department, including Lord Edgar Adrian, Professor Sir Alan Hodgkin, Professor Sir Bryan Matthews, Joseph Needham and Gilbert Adair. He worked with Daniel C. Tosteson whereby they discovered the making of red cell ghosts.

Ronald Whittam in his officeFrom 1958 to 1966, Whittam was at the University of Oxford. During that time, he was again in the same department of Sir Hans Krebs who was Whitley Professor of Biochemistry. He was awarded a M.A. at the University of Oxford. In the first two years he conducted research as scientific research staff of the Medical Research Unit. He spent over half of 1958 at Columbia University, New York, working with David Nachmansohn on electrophysiology with single cell electroplaques and the electric eel. In 1960 he became a Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, joining New College, yet also made a member of the Senior Common Room at Hertford College.

During 1965, he became a Bruno Mendel Fellow of the Royal Society conducting research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. There he worked with Izzy Edelman. Ephraim Katzir had oversight as Head of the Department of Biophysics. where he established a new Laboratory of Physiology, that was re-titled in 1968 as the Department of Physiology. It was the first Chair of General Physiology to have been created in Britain since Professor Sir William Bayliss was created Chair at University College London. He ran one of the largest physiology departments in UK universities, outside of Oxford and Cambridge. A lot of funding was hypothecated from the University Grants Committee. They had one son and one daughter.

Awards and honours

1986: Honorary Member of The Physiological Society 1973: Fellow of The Royal Society (FRS) 1965: The Royal Society, Bruno Mendel Fellow 1958: Beit Memorial Fellow 1954: John Stokes Research Fellow, University of Sheffield

Publications

Whittam, Ronald (1964), Transport and diffusion in red blood cells, London, UK: Edward Arnold Pub., General Physiology and the Biological Sciences (Leicester University Press, 1966).