Roy Markham

Roy Markham FRS (29 January 1916 – 16 November 1979) was a British plant virologist who served as the fifth director of the John Innes Centre from 1967 until his death in 1979.

Markham continued working in Cambridge following his PhD, joining the Molteno Institute to work on the biochemistry of RNAs. One of his contemporaries at Cambridge was James Watson, who in his book, The Double Helix, recalls seeking TMV for an experiment:

He returned to work on the structure of plant viruses at the end of the 1950s. He was particularly interested in using electron microscopy to look at virus architecture.

John Innes Institute The John Innes Institute moved from Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire to Norwich, Norfolk in 1967, following its association with the newly-formed University of East Anglia (UEA). Before the institute's move was completed, its director, Kenneth S Doods, resigned to take up a position with the Food and Agriculture Organization in Turkey. Roy Markham was appointed as his successor, and he, along with the Virus Research Unit, moved to Norwich in October 1967. However, under Markham's directorship, the institute grew and was reorganised into four new departments: Cell Biology, Genetics, Applied Genetics and Ultrastructural Studies.

Death Roy Markham suffered a heart attack in 1978, from which he recovered. However, he later developed bowel cancer and died on 16 November 1979.