Sir
Alexander Robertus Todd was born in Glasgow on October 2, 1907, the elder
son of Alexander Todd, a business man of that city, and his wife Jean Lowrie.
He was educated at Allan Glen's School and Glasgow University, where he took
his B.Sc. degree in 1928 and, after a short initial research training with T.S.
Patterson he proceeded to the University of Frankfurt-on-Maine. Here he studied
under W. Borsche and obtained his Ph.D. (Dr.Phil.nat.) in 1931 for a thesis
on the chemistry of the bile acids.
Returning to England he worked from 1931-1934 on anthocyanins and other colouring
matters with Sir Robert Robinson, the Nobel Prize winner, and took a Ph.D. degree
at Oxford University in 1933.
Todd went back to Scotland in 1934 when he joined the staff of Edinburgh University
under G. Barger. Two years later, i.e. in 1936 he moved to the Lister Institute
of Preventive Medicine, Chelsea, and became Reader in Biochemistry in the University
of London in 1937.
In 1938 he was appointed as Sir Samuel Hall Professor of Chemistry and Director
of the Chemical Laboratories of the University of Manchester, which position
he held until 1944, when he accepted an appointment as Professor of Organic
Chemistry at Cambridge University and Fellow of Christ's College.
Todd's work has gained him recognition in many universities and countries. He
holds the D.Sc. degree of Glasgow University and has had bestowed upon him honorary
doctorates from the Universities of Kiel (Dr.rer.nat.), Glasgow (LL.D.), Hon.D.Sc.
London (1958), Madrid (1959), Exeter (1960), Leicester (1960), Aligarh (1960),
and in 1961 Wales, Yale and Sheffeld; also Hon.LL.D. from Melbourne in 1960.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, foreign member of the National Academy
of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Austrian Academy
of Sciences and the Spanish Council of Scientific Investigation, and an honorary
member of the French, German and Spanish chemical societies and member of the
Deutsche Akad. Naturforscher Leopoldina, Halle, (1959). He holds the Meldola
Medal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and the Society of Maccabeans; the
Davy Medal and Royal Medal of the Royal Society, the Cannizaro Medal of the
Italian Chemical Society and the Lavoisier Medal of the French Chemical Society.
He has been Tilden Lecturer and Pedler Lecturer of the Chemical Society, Bakerian
Lecturer of the Society of Chemical Industry, also visiting professor at California
Institute of Technology (1938), the University of Chicago (1948), Sidney University
(1950), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1954) and the University of California
(1957). He was elected Hon. Member, New York Academy of Sciences (1959), Hon.
Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1960), President of the Chemical
Society, London, 1960-1962, Master of the Worshipful Company of Salters, 1961-1962.
Todd has taken considerable interest in international scientific affairs; he
is President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and Chairman
of the British National Committee for Chemistry. He has served on many Government
Committees and in 1952 was elected Chairman of the British Government's Advisory
Council on Scientific Policy. He is a Managing Trustee of the Nuff'eld Foundation.
The main subjects of Todd's researches have been the chemistry of natural products
of biological importance and, in addition to the nucleotide and nucleotide coenzyme
studies described in his Nobel Lecture, the chemistry of vitamins B1,
E and B12, the constituents of Cannabis species, insect colouring
matters, factors influencing obligate parasitism and various mould products.
Knighted in 1954, he was raised to the Peerage in March, 1962, being created
Baron Todd of Trumpington.
Lord Todd is married to Alison Sarah, daughter of Nobel Prize winner Sir Henry
Dale, and they have a son, Alexander Henry, and two daughters, Helen Jean and
Hilary Alison.
From Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Lord Todd died on January 10, 1997.