Philip Bruce White

{{Short description|British microbiologist (1891–1949)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Philip Bruce White | image = Philip Bruce White, microbiologist, 1891-1946.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 29 December 1891 | birth_place = Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/path.1700620327 | doi=10.1002/path.1700620327 | title=Philip Bruce White. Born 29th December 1891. Died 19th March 1949 | journal=The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology | date=1950 | volume=62 | issue=3 | pages=468–481 | pmid=14784919 | last1=Hartley |first1=P. | url-access=subscription }}</ref> | death_date = {{death-date and age|19 March 1949|29 December 1891}} | death_place = London, England | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | predecessor = | successor = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | footnotes = }} '''Philip Bruce White''' (29 December 1891 – 19 March 1949) was a British microbiologist. He is notable for developing a classification system for salmonella bacteria which later became known as the Kauffman-White classification.

== Biography == White was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales on 29 December 1891, as the eldest of three children. His father. Philip Jacob, was a lecturer in zoology at the University College of North Wales. They lived in a house overlooking the Menai Strait where Jacob was heavily involved in setting up a biological study station on Puffin Island where his son White spent the majority of his childhood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Wilson |date=1950-11-30 |title=Philip Bruce White, 1891-1949 |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbm/article/7/19/278/34462/Philip-Bruce-White-1891-1949 |journal=Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society |language=en |volume=7 |issue=19 |pages=278–292 |doi=10.1098/rsbm.1950.0018 |doi-access=free |issn=1479-571X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Griffith Evans, a Welsh bacteriologist who discovered trypanosoma evansi, was also a family friend who regularly visited the family with tales of his work as a veterinary officer in British India which White later highlighted in his memoirs as being an inspiration to his future work.<ref name=":0" />

He completed a bachelor's degree in zoology and botany at the University College of North Wales in 1915.<ref name=":0" />

In 1926, White published a schema for classifying salmonella bacteria based on serum.<ref>P. B. White: ''Further Studies of the ''Salmonella'' Group.'' Great Britain Medical Research Council 103, (Her Majesty's Stationery Office), 3–160, 1926.</ref><ref>F. Kauffmann: ''Das Fundament.'' Munksgaard, Kopenhagen, 1978.</ref> This was later extended by the Danish microbiologist {{ill|Fritz Kauffmann (bacteriologist)|de|Fritz Kauffmann (Mediziner)|lt=Fritz Kauffmann}}, the Kauffman–White classification.

White became a fellow of the Royal Society on 20 March 1941.

He died in London on 19 March 1949 at age 57. He was survived by his wife and two sons. <ref name=":0" />

== References == <references />

== Further reading == *{{Cite journal|author=Wilson Smith|date=1950-11-30|title=Philip Bruce White, 1891–1949|journal=Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society|language=en|volume=7|issue=19|pages=278–292|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1950.0018|issn=1479-571X|doi-access=free|ref=none}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Philip Bruce}} Category:People from Bangor, Gwynedd Category:People educated at Friars School, Bangor Category:1891 births Category:1949 deaths Category:British microbiologists Category:Fellows of the Royal Society