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Remembering Prof Andrew Thomson
By: Communications
It’s with great sadness that the University has learnt of the recent passing of Prof Andrew Thomson, FRS OBE. A world-leading researcher in understanding the roles of metals in life, Prof Thomson joined UEA as a lecturer in the School of Chemical Sciences in the late 1960s. He went on to become professor and Head of School, and established Pharmacy at UEA, which today stands as an extremely successful School in its own right. In 2004, he was appointed as the first Dean of the Science Faculty, before retiring in 2008. As Emeritus Professor, he remained closely involved with the University in many different ways right up to his death.
Paying tribute to Prof Thomson, Vice-Chancellor Prof David Richardson said: “All Andrew’s many prizes and awards were richly deserved, but they only tell part of the story. Aside from being an intellectual giant and pioneer of biological inorganic chemistry, he retained a great humility, was very approachable, and was a great supporter of less experienced colleagues, both at UEA and beyond, always finding time to offer sage advice when approached. To many at UEA, including myself and the Head of Chemistry, he was a mentor and a friend. He was, without doubt, amongst the best of humanity. He will be sadly missed, but certainly not forgotten.”
Prof Thomson’s career and contributions were stellar. In 1965, after completing his PhD degree with Professor Bob Williams (widely regarded as a founding father of biological inorganic chemistry) at the University of Oxford, Andrew moved to the US to join a team studying the effects of platinum salts on bacterial growth processes. He succeeded in identifying the precise nature of the platinum compound that was able to stop the bacterial cells dividing. This was a hugely important step in the development of the drug cisplatin, one of the most effective treatments for cancer (and particularly testicular cancer) over the past 40 years.
Joining the UEA Prof Thomson’s work remained focused on metals, but he became more interested in understanding the roles of essential transition metals in life. He began a life-long friendship and collaboration with Professor Colin Greenwood in the School of Biological Sciences and, together, they established at UEA the Centre for Metalloprotein Spectroscopy and Biology (CMSB), one of the first multidisciplinary research centres in the UK.
He became a world-leader in the application of optical and magnetic methods to analyse the structures and functions of transition metal ions such as iron and copper in proteins, and in doing so made huge progress towards understanding key cellular processes such as respiration. In the early 2000s, Andrew led a successful multi-million pound bid to establish the Henry Wellcome Unit for Biological EPR Spectroscopy at UEA, equipped with the first pulsed EPR instrument in the UK.
His research was recognised through numerous prizes and awards during his career. Amongst these were a number from the Royal Society of Chemistry, including the Interdisciplinary Award in 2002 and the Chatt Prize in 2004. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1993, and received an OBE for services to Higher Education in 2008.
Read more about Prof Thomson’s work in his own words.
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