Frederick Robert Whatley. 26 January 1924—14 November 2020

Abstract

Frederick Robert (Bob) Whatley was a plant biochemist who made fundamental discoveries that form the basis of our present textbook understanding of photosynthesis, the process by which green plants harness the energy of sunlight to incorporate atmospheric carbon dioxide, and upon which all life on Earth depends. Bob was born in Wiltshire and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first class degree in biochemistry and a PhD supervised by Robin Hill FRS. He brought biochemical expertise and insight to a small team under the leadership of Daniel Arnon at the University of California at Berkeley, which, in the decade from 1953, discovered that chloroplasts were capable of conserving light energy as adenosine triphosphate by what the Berkeley group named photosynthetic phosphorylation. The Berkeley group also defined the role of the enzyme cofactor NADP + . By demonstrating that isolated chloroplasts were capable of the complete process of light-driven carbon dioxide fixation, they revolutionized the contemporary conception of the process, and provided a solid basis for subsequent research. In the 1960s Bob Whatley contributed to identifying the important role of the key protein, ferredoxin, in photosynthesis, and he established an important centre for photosynthesis research at King's College London. In the 1970s and 1980s as Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford he advanced several areas of biochemical research. Bob Whatley was a meticulous experimenter and clear thinker. He had a gentle manner and, for all his scientific achievements, Bob possessed an inherent modesty.