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Cyril Clarke
Born	22 September 1907(1907-09-22) England
Died	21 November 2000 (age 93)
Fields	Medicine and genetics
Institutions	Liverpool University
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius College and Guy's Hospital
Known for	Pioneering work on prevention of Rh disease, and genetics of lepidoptera
Notable awards	Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research (1980)

Sir Cyril Astley Clarke KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, (Hon) FRC Path, FRS (22 August 1907–21 November 2000) was a British physician, geneticist and lepidopterist. He was honoured for his pioneering work on prevention of Rh disease of the newborn, and also for his work on the genetics of the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths).

Cyril Clarke's school education was at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and at the independent Oundle School near Peterborough. His interest in butterflies and moths began at school. His studied natural science at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge and then medicine at Guy's Hospital, London. During the Second World War, he worked as a medic in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Clarke helped to develop the technique of giving Rh-negative women inter-muscular injections of anti-RhD antibodies during pregnancy to prevent Rh disease in their newborn babies. This was one of the major advances in preventive medicine in the second half of the 20th century.

Clarke answered an advert in an insect magazine for swallowtail butterfly pupae that had been placed by Philip Sheppard. They met and began working together in their common interest of lepidoptery. From 1959 they started running a moth trap in Caldy Common near West Kirby, Wirral, England. They studied the peppered moth, the scarlet tiger moth and swallowtail butterfly. They published papers on the genetics of lepidoptera and also on Rh disease. Clarke continued research in his retirement and in 1988 he rediscovered a Scarlet Tiger Moth colony on the Wirral Way, West Kirby, that had been started in 1961 by Philip Sheppard. The colony was useful for study of the genetics of changes in populations.

He was married Frieda (or Féo) in 1934. Lady Féo Clarke died in 1998. Cyril Clark died in 2000. They had three sons.

Career and awards

• Second World War - Medic in Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
• 1947 to 1958 - Part-time Clinical Lecturer at Liverpool University, England.
• 1958 to 1965 - Reader at Liverpool University, England.
• 1965 to 1972 - Professor of Medicine at Liverpool University, England. Later, Honorary Nuffield Research Fellow, Department of Genetics and Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Liverpool. Director, Research Unit, Royal College of Physicians of London.
• 1969 - CBE
• 19 March 1970 - FRS
• 1972 to 1977 - President of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
• 1974 - Knighted
• 1977 - Gairdner Foundation International Award
• 1980 - Lasker Award - Prof Cyril Clarke, together with Dr Ronald Finn, Dr John Gorman, Dr Vincent Freda, and Dr William Pollack were jointly awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research for their pioneering work on the Rhesus blood group system, the role of Rhesus D antibodies in the causation of Rh disease and the prevention of Rh disease.
• 1981 - Linnean Medal from the Linnean Society of London.
• 1990 - Buchanan Medal from the Royal Society of the United Kingdom for work on haemolytic disease of the newborn.
• 1992 - Honorary Degree given by the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.

See also

• Peppered moth evolution

References

• Obituary on Liverpool University website - includes a photograph
• Obituary by Sir David Weatherall
• http://www.bath.ac.uk/ncuacs/guidec.htm#CAClarke
• http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Cyril-Clarke-OB.htm
• 1980 Lasker award to Prof Cyril Clarke
• The Buchanan Medal - Royal Society (UK) website