Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1966-1970 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 files, paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in Hammersmith, the second son of George William Chibnall, bakery owner, and Kate (née) Butler
School - St Paul's
Admitted to Clare in 1912 as an exhibitioner
He started off studying for Natural Sciences Tripos Part I, but this was cut short by the advent of war. He quickly applied for a commission, and spent three years serving mainly in the Army Service Corps. In 1917 he applied to join the Royal Flying Corps and learned to fly in Cairo; he gained his wings in 1918.
In 1919 Chibnall was taken on by Professor H.B. Baker to do research for the newly instituted PhD at Imperial College, but he later switched to study the nitrogenous constituents of green leaves with Professor S. B. Schryver, whom he succeeded in 1929. He gained his PhD in 1921.
After a year's work at the Chelsea Physic Garden, Chibnall was awarded a travelling scholarship to the USA.
1924 - joined the laboratory of Jack Drummond at UCL
1929 - took over the Chair of Bichemistry at Imperial College
1943 - appointed the second Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry at Cambridge University
1949 - resigned as he felt it was a role more suited to a medically qualified biochemist
His notable students included Fred Sanger, who was a double winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
1988 - he died in Cambridge