Martin Adams
SfAM President 2011-2014
FeaturesSir Graham Wilson
Sir Graham Wilson was a pioneer in the area of public health, wartime bacteriology and food hygiene.
Article‘t time’: why students prefer Guinness
‘Student’s t test’ to compare the means of two groups always seems to enjoy particularly high esteem amongst students; so much so that some may believe that the test’s name was conferred in their honour.
FeaturesThe life and times of Sir Henry Wellcome
Wellcome was committed to high-quality science and founded other laboratories to join the WPRL, including the Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratory in Khartoum.
FeaturesMaking us keen for quinine
In 1817, quinine became the first chemical compound used to treat an infectious disease.
FeaturesIce, ice, maybe? Francis Bacon and frozen meat
The scientific pioneer’s ill-fated investigation into whether flesh could be preserved in snow.
FeaturesToasting Alice Ball
Alice Ball became both the first African-American and the first woman to be awarded a Master’s degree in Chemistry in 1915.
FeaturesThe rise of India Pale Ale
We chart the rollercoaster emergence of the India Pale AleThe emergence of the India Pale Ale.
FeaturesSanitas, a public health hero
The Sanitas Company Limited: a once well-known concern deserving remembrance for its contribution to public health.
FeaturesA passport to Pimlico for streptococci
Fred Griffith played a key role in the foundation of molecular genetics.
FeaturesCitric acid's journey from sunny Sicily to industrial London
Like other major seaports, the hinterland of London’s docks was once a hive of industrial activity.
FeaturesThe perplexing progress of pickling and preservation
In 1819, two former school friends, Thomas Blackwell and Edmund Crosse, were apprenticed to a firm making pickles and sauces.
FeaturesBlue plaque microbiology
Marking sites associated with notable people or events is an estimable and widespread practice.
FeaturesSulphonamides and saving Churchill
One might not expect the names of Winston Churchill and Dagenham to occur together in a word-association exercise, but there is a notable microbiological connection between the two.
FeaturesLouis Pasteur's beer of revenge
Pasteur started studying the brewing process, prompted by the humbling defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.
FeaturesListon and Lister: surgery, anaesthesia and antiseptics
It seems unlikely that an interest in the history of microbiology would bring one to the roof garret of an 18th century church in Southwark.
FeaturesThe role of water in the transmission of disease
Breaking records: In 2018 the UK was host to the largest ever recorded fatberg.
FeaturesA deep dive into the story of vinegar
The material used in chip shops is generally not vinegar at all.
FeaturesBrown Institution
The new United States Embassy was previously the site of a microbiological institution.
