Quentin Gibson
British and American physiologist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quentin Howieson Gibson FRS[2] (9 December 1918 – 16 March 2011) was a Scottish American physiologist, and professor at the University of Sheffield,[3] and Cornell University.[4]
9 December 1918
Professor Quentin Gibson FRS | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Quentin Howieson Gibson 9 December 1918 Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Died | 6 March 2011 (aged 92) |
| Citizenship | British, American |
| Education | Queen's University Belfast |
| Spouse | Audrey Jane Pinsent |
| Children | 4 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry of heme proteins |
| Institutions | University of Sheffield Cornell University University of Pennsylvania |
| Notable students | Keith Moffat[1] |
Education
Gibson earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1944 and a Ph.D. in 1946, from Queen's University Belfast.[citation needed]
Life
Gibson taught at the University of Sheffield from 1947. Whilst at the University of Sheffield Gibson met Audrey Jane Pinsent in 1951. They married, started a family, and eventually had four children. Jane Gibson continued working part-time whilst raising her family. In 1963 they emigrated to the United States, where she took up positions, first at the University of Pennsylvania.[5] He succeeded (Sir) Hans Krebs as the Head of the Department of Biochemistry in 1955. In 1963 he left Sheffield to become a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the Greater Philadelphia Professor at Cornell University, from 1965 to 1996. In 1982, he became a U.S. citizen.[6]
Research
Hemoglobin
Gibson started his career with studies of hemoglobin,[7] [8] and continued with much other work on heme proteins.
Medical and physiological work
In keeping with his medical qualifications, much of Gibson's early work[9] [10] had medical or physiological relevance.[11]
Cooperativity
During the period when protein and enzyme cooperativity was at the center of biochemical interest Gibson studied it in the context of abnormal hemoglobins.[12] [13]
Rapid reactions
Gibson made major contributions to the development of methods for studying rapid reactions,[14] and their application to hemoglobin.[15]
Other proteins
Other work concerned enzymes such as "diaphorase",[16][17] glucose oxidase,[18] cytochrome oxidase[19][20] and peroxidase.[21]
Thermodynamics
Much of Gibson's work concerned questions of thermodynamics and equilibria, and in that context he participated in discussions about how to present thermodynamic data.[22]
Awards and honours
Gibson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1969.[2] He was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and an associate editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry from 1975 to 1994.[23]