Rupert E. Billingham

Rupert Everett Billingham FRS (15 October 1921 – 16 November 2002) was a British biologist who did significant research in the fields of reproductive immunology and organ transplantation. "He made numerous fundamental contributions to our modern knowledge of the mechanisms of graft rejection and how to prevent it, and he analysed some of the mechanisms responsible for the survival of the mammalian foetus in an immunologically hostile environment".

Billingham was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, the son of a dairy farmer. He completed his BSc in zoology at Oriel College, Oxford. His studies were interrupted by World War II, he completed war time service in the Royal Navy serving on an anti-submarine escort. and took a position at the Wistar Institute. In 1965 he became chair of the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1971. He died in Boston aged 81, following a long illness with Parkinson's disease.