Biography on john cornforth

Sydney-born John Cornforth showed the first signs of hearing loss at the age of ten and was completely deaf by his early twenties. He studied organic chemistry at the University of Sydney before winning a scholarship to study at Oxford. Cornforth’s future wife Rita Harradence won a similar scholarship and worked closely with him in his future research.

Australia offered no opportunities for research chemists who could not lecture, so Cornforth remained in Britain. He worked on the chemistry of penicillin during World War Two before joining the Medical Research Council in Hampstead. In he became a co-director of the Milstead Laboratory of Chemical Enzymology, where he conducted the research that led to his Nobel Prize in Chemistry for ‘work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions.’ Cornforth was elected to the Royal Society in and was knighted in He finished his career as a research professor at the University of Sussex.

Australian-British chemist (–)

For other people named John Cornforth, see John Cornforth (disambiguation).

Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr.,AC, CBE, FRS, FAA (7 September – 8 December ) was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.

Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyse changes in organic compounds, the substrates, by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate's chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, Cornforth determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate were replaced by an enzyme to effect a given change in the substrate, allowing him to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol. For this work, he won a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in , alongside co-recipient Vladimir Prelog, and was knighted in

Early life and family

Born in Sydney, Cornforth was the son and the second of four children of English-born, Oxford-educated schoolmaster and teacher John Warcup Cornforth and Hilda Eipper (–), a granddaughter of pioneering missionary and Presbyterian minister Christopher Eipper. Before her marriage, Eipper had been a maternity nurse.

Cornforth was raised in Sydney as well as Armidale, in the north of New South Wales, where he undertook primary school education.

At about 10 years old, Cornforth had noted signs of deafness, which led to a diagnosis of otosclerosis, a disease of the middle ear which causes progressive hearing loss. This left him completely deaf by the age of 20 but also fatefully influenced his career direction away from law, his original intended field of study, and t

Sir John Cornforth () was an Australian–British chemist whose life and career were shaped by a hearing disorder that left him profoundly deaf by the age of In , he received a Nobel Prize for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions.

Birth of a chemist

Sir John Cornforth was born in in Sydney, Australia, the son of a British Classics teacher and an Australian nurse. At just ten years old he was diagnosed with otosclerosis, a progressive condition where the bones in the middle ear become deformed and stop transmitting sound. 

An academically gifted student, Cornforth had aspired from an early age to become a teacher or a barrister. However, the knowledge that he was likely to eventually lose his hearing completely led him to instead consider professions in which deafness would present fewer challenges. 

He became captivated by chemistry as a pupil at Sydney Boys' High School, inspired by his teacher Leonard ("Len") Basser. With his hearing already deteriorating, Cornforth relished the impact on his other senses of "the beauties of crystals and distilled liquids, the colours of dyes, and smells both good and bad."

After graduating from high school at the top of his class, Cornforth went to the University of Sydney to study for a Bachelor of Science degree. Unable to hear much during lectures, he focused on reading original research literature and was shocked to discover that much of what he had been taught up until that point had not been entirely correct. During an interview in , he explained how he subsequently relied exclusively on primary resources, adding: "I don't believe a word I ever read in any textbook."

Meeting Rita

It was as an undergraduate that Cornforth embarked on his hugely productive lifelong partnership with his fellow undergraduate Rita Harradence, an exceptionally bright student who, like Cornforth, had been drawn to chemistry by an inspirational teacher at her school. 

Having t

British architectural historian

John Lewley CornforthCBE (2 September – 5 May ) was a British architectural historian with a particular interest in the history of English country houses. He was the author of many books and articles, and architectural editor of Country Life from to

Early life

Cornforth was born in at Etchinghill, Staffordshire, and was raised at Haywood Abbey, an only child of parents with private means. His childhood friends included Patrick Anson, later 5th Earl of Lichfield, at nearby Shugborough Hall. He took no interest in country pursuits – riding or shooting, cricket or golf – but enjoyed looking at Country Life from before he could read.

He was educated at Repton School and then studied history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was influenced by art historian Michael Jaffé.

Career

After university, Cornforth worked as a volunteer in the British Museum in London, and started to write articles for Country Life, joining the staff at the magazine in Its architectural editor Christopher Hussey, encouraged Cornforth to write a book with architect Oliver Hill on 17th-century country houses, published in as English Country Houses: Caroline, – . Cornforth followed Hussey's successor Mark Girouard as architectural editor at Country Life in He stepped down in to concentrate on his book writing, and was succeeded by Marcus Binney. He retired from Country Life in but continued to write books and articles. He wrote for Country Life for over 40 years, with a bibliography extending to over 50 pages.

The classic houses of the 17th and 18th centuries were his passion: he had little interest in Victorian houses, and disliked the s Surrealist reinterpretation of Edwin Lutyens's Monkton House in Sussex for Edward James, by Kit Nicholson and Hugh Casson, with the help of Salvador Dalí.

Cornforth j