Andrew Huxley

@Physiologists, Facts and Childhood ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley was a British physiologist, biophysicist, mathematician and a mechanical wizard British Trinity College, Cambridge Scientists Biophysicists Physiologists Scorpio Celebrities Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley was a British physiologist, biophysicist, mathematician and mechanical wizard. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for showing how nerve cells produce electrical impulses to control the sensations of human body and all its activities. He shared this prize with Sir Alan Hodgkin who was a British scientist and his former teacher, and Sir John Eccles, an Australian biophysicist. The experiments carried out by Huxley and Hodgkin helped to explain the effect of anesthesia on the human body and the identification of many genetic diseases. Their work also helped in the design of prosthetic hands, arms, legs and feet. Huxley and Hodgkin explained how an electrical impulse travels from one end of the nerve cell to the other while Eccles described how the impulse was transferred from one cell to the adjacent one. They were able to solve an age old mystery where an Italian physicist made a dead frog’s leg twitch by touching it with electrical current. They used a nerve cell from a squid known as a ‘giant axion’ which is the largest nerve cell found in any type of living creature. They successfully inserted micro electrodes into the nerve cell and recorded the change in potential between the two ends when an electric current was passed through it.

Personal Details

Birthday: November 22, 1917 Died on: May 30, 2012 Nationality: British Famous: Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists Spouses: Richenda Gammell Known as: Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley Childrens: Camilla, Clare, Eleanor, Henrietta, Janet, Stewart Information Detail Birthday November 22, 1917 Died on May 30, 2012 Nationality British Famous Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists Spouses Richenda Gammell Known as Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley Childrens Camilla, Clare, Eleanor, Henrietta, Janet, Stewart Universities Trinity College, Cambridge Notable Alumnis Trinity College Cambridge Birth Place Hampstead, London, England Gender Male Father Leonard Huxley Mother Rosalind Bruce Sun Sign Scorpio Born in Hampstead, London, England Famous as Physiologist & Biophysicist Died at Age 94

Hampstead, London, England

Andrew Huxley born at Unsplash Birth Place

He married Jocelyn Richenda Gammell Pease in 1947 and had a son, Stewart, and five daughters, Janet, Camilla, Eleanor, Henrietta and Clare from the marriage. Unsplash Personal Life

Sir Andrew Huxley died of cancer on May 30, 2012. Unsplash Personal Life

Sir Andrew Huxley was born in Hampstead, north London on November 22, 1917. His father, Leonard Huxley, was a writer and editor while his mother was Rosalind Bruce. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He was the younger of the two sons born to Leonard and Rosalind. His elder brother was David. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Julian Huxley, a scientist on animal behavior, and the novelist Aldous Huxley were his half-brothers from his father’s first marriage. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Both his half-brothers were older than him and had very little influence on his work. When Andrew was born, Aldous was 23-year-old and Julian was 30. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

His parents had presented him a lathe when he was 14 as he was technically quite proficient from a young age. He kept the lathe intact and used it to build a large number of equipment for his experiments later. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In the summer of 1939 he started working with Professor Alan Hodgkin on squid axon at the ‘Marine Biological Laboratory in Plymouth, England. Unsplash Career

When the Second World War broke out in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, he had to abandon his experiments and join the war effort. Unsplash Career

He was recruited by the ‘British Anti-Aircraft Command’ to work on the development of radar that would be able to control antiaircraft guns. Unsplash Career

Later he was transferred to the Admiralty where he did the same work for anti-aircraft guns mounted on warships. He helped Hodgkin design a new gun-sight during this period. Unsplash Career

In 1946, after the war had ended, he resumed his research with Professor Alan Hodgkin and carried out a teaching job at the ‘Department of Physiology’ even though he had been awarded a research fellowship by the ‘Trinity College’ in 1941. Unsplash Career

Sir Andrew Huxley was named a ‘Fellow of the Royal Society’ in 1955. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

He was honored with the knighthood in 1974. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

He was awarded with an ‘Order of Merit’ in 1983. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

Information	Detail
Birthday	November 22, 1917
Died on	May 30, 2012
Nationality	British
Famous	Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists
Spouses	Richenda Gammell
Known as	Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley
Childrens	Camilla, Clare, Eleanor, Henrietta, Janet, Stewart
Universities	Trinity College, Cambridge
Notable Alumnis	Trinity College Cambridge
Birth Place	Hampstead, London, England
Gender	Male
Father	Leonard Huxley
Mother	Rosalind Bruce
Sun Sign	Scorpio
Born in	Hampstead, London, England
Famous as	Physiologist & Biophysicist
Died at Age	94

Andrew Huxley

British

Nov 22, 1917

Biography

Personal Details

Hampstead, London, England