Catalogue description Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of ALEXANDER GEORGE OGSTON FRS; 1911 - 1996

SECTION A BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL CSAC 98/2/84/A.1 - A.9

SECTION B SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CSAC 98/2/84/B.1 - B.91

Introduction to Section B

List of research topics

SECTION C CORRESPONDENCE CSAC 98/2/84/C.1 - C.33

The surviving material is not large, mainly because of Ogston's travels to and from Australia and his preference (stated in the correspondence) for travelling light. Thus, there is little biographical material or personal correspondence, though Ogston's friendly approachable manner is always to be seen in the tone of the letters addressed to or written by him.

The main content relates to research projects and publications. Ogston's own designations of his folders have been preserved, and the material follows where possible his analysis of his work, already referred to, at CSAC 98/2/84/A.9.

Compiled by:

Jeannine Alton and Peter Harper

The work of the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre, and the production of this catalogue, are made possible by the support of the following societies and institutions:

The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

The Biochemical Society

The British Pharmacological Society

The Charles Babbage Foundation for the History of Information Processing

The Institute of Physics

The Institution of Electrical Engineers

The Nuffield Foundation

The Physiological Society

The Royal Society of London

We are grateful to Dr. L. Stocken and Dr. M.A. Foster for help in identifying and describing material.

Ogston, Alexander George, 1911-1996, scientist and physical biochemist

The main bulk of the material was made available by Dr. Ogston on his retirement from Oxford in 1978. Items CSAC 98/2/84/B.1 - B.3, CSAC 98/2/84/B.25 - B.27, CSAC 98/2/84/B.88 - B.91 are sets of late research notes and drafts passed on by Ogston in November 1980.

• Biochemistry

Ogston was educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford; apart from a period as Freedom Research Fellow at the London Hospital, he spent most of his career at Oxford, being appointed Demonstrator (1938) and Reader (1955) in Biochemistry, and Fellow and Tutor in Physical Chemistry at Balliol (1937). In 1959 he took up an appointment as Professor of Physical Biochemistry at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, where he remained until 1970 when he returned to Oxford as President of Trinity College. On his retirement in 1978 he held Visiting Fellowships at the Institute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, and the John Curtin School of Medical Research, A.N.U., where the late research was undertaken.

Ogston's main research interests include the thermo-dynamics of biological systems, particularly in relation to connective tissue, and the use of physico-chemical methods to study the size, weight and structure of molecules. Attention is drawn to Item A.9, a Folder of material submitted for the D.Sc., Oxford, in 1970, and which contains Ogston's own identification of his main areas of research and most significant papers. It should be noted that this does not include his important contribution to stereochemistry, the 'three-point attachment' (see CSAC 98/2/84/B.40 - B.45).

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