Daniel McGillivray Brown

Daniel McGillivray Brown, FRS or Dan Brown (3 February 1923 – 24 April 2012; born Giffnock), was a Scottish nucleic acid chemist.

Daniel McGillivray Brown

FRS
Born(1923-02-03)3 February 1923
Died24 April 2012(2012-04-24) (aged 89)
Cambridge
NationalityBritish
Alma materGlasgow University
Known forMutagenics
Structure of RNA
Spouse(s)Margaret Joyce Herbert
ChildrenCatherine, David, Frances and Moira
Scientific career
Institutions

Biography

Daniel McGillivray Brown was born in Giffnock on 3 February 1923, son of David Cunninghame Brown, a restaurateur, and Catherine Stewart (née McGillivray), a teacher. After Giffnock Primary School he attended Glasgow Academy and then, at age 17, Glasgow University where he studied chemistry, and received an honours degree.[1]

In 1945 Brown moved to the Chester Beatty Research Institute, then in Chelsea, where he worked on the synthesis of heterocyclic stilbene derivatives for his PhD.[2]

Then, in 1948, Brown moved to Cambridge to join Alexander Todd’s group. Here, he set out to confirm the furanose chemical structure of the sugar part of nucleosides in natural nucleic acids, which had only been inferred at the time. He and Basil Lythgoe proved this to be the case.[3] He gained his second PhD in 1952.[4] He later worked on the selective phosphorylation of nucleosides to form nucleotides. This was the beginning of a lifelong career, and led to the chemical structures of RNA and, by inference, DNA.[1]

Brown was appointed lecturer in the chemistry department in 1959, and reader in 1967. During this period he worked on phosphoinositides and the mutagenesis of nucleotides. He was Visiting Professor at University of California, Los Angeles 1959–60; and at Brandeis University 1966–67.[5]

In 1981 Dan took a sabbatical at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) and, a year later, moved there permanently. He retired formally from the LMB in 2002 but continued publishing until 2008.[4] Brown was awarded ScD in 1968, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1982.

Family

Daniel Brown met Margaret Joyce Herbert at Scottish Highland Dancing classes at the CUSRC[6] in 1952. They married in Lincolnshire the following year. Dan and Margaret had four children: Catherine (1954), David (1955), Frances (1961) and Moira (1963). David died in 1995.

Daniel McGillivray Brown died at his home in Cambridge on 24 April 2012.[4] He was survived by his wife, three daughters, four grandchildren and a great grand-daughter.[7]

References
  1. Michael J. Gait (7 November 2018). "Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society: Daniel McGillivray Brown. 3 February 1923—24 April 2012". doi:10.1098/rsbm.2018.0008. S2CID 81639128. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Brown, Daniel M; Kon, George A R (1948). "Some heterocyclic analogues of stilbenes". Journal of the Chemical Society. 0: 2147–2154. doi:10.1039/jr9480002147.
  3. Brown, D M; Lythgoe, B R (1950). "Deoxyribonucleosides and related compounds. Part II. A proof of the furanose structure of the natural 2-deoxyribonucleosides". Journal of the Chemical Society. 0: 1990–1991. doi:10.1039/jr9500001990.
  4. "Obituaries: Daniel McGillivray Brown (1953)". King's College, Cambridge Annual Report 2013: 72–75.
  5. "Brown, Dr Daniel McGillivray". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  6. "The Cambridge University Strathspey and Reel Club". Cambridge University Strathspey and Reel Club. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. "Dr Daniel Brown". The Herald. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2020.


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