{{Short description|British biochemist and businessman (1931–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date= June 2017}} {{Use British English|date= June 2017}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = | caption = | birth_name = Frank Ralph Batchelor | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1931|11|24}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|03|24|1931|11|24|df=y}} | death_place = Portsmouth, England | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | other_names = Ralph Batchelor | education = | alma_mater = Peterhouse, Cambridge | years_active = | employer = Beecham Pharmaceuticals | occupation = {{Plainlist| * Research biochemist * Company director }} | organization = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | spouse = Doreen Marjorie Simpson | partner = | children = Jane Louise<br />Stephen James<br />Edward Tobias | parents = | relatives = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Addingham Medal * Mullard Medal }} }}
'''Frank Ralph Batchelor''' (24 November 1931 – 24 March 2021),<ref>Mr Frank Ralph Batchelor in the England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2024</ref> known as Ralph, was a British biochemist and businessman.
Batchelor attended Collyer's School, Horsham.<ref>{{cite news|title=Finish of the Fifties|newspaper=West Sussex County Times|date=1 January 1960|page=10}}</ref> After studying there for seven years he gained an open scholarship in science to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he took a BA in biochemistry.<ref>{{cite news|title=Old Collyerian has Research Triumph|newspaper=West Sussex County Times|date=13 March 1959|page=8}}</ref>
He obtained a research post at Beecham Research Laboratories, in Betchworth in 1956. During his first year with the company, he was sent to work at the {{lang|it|Istituto Superiore di Sanità}} in Rome, under Professor Sir Ernst Chain.<ref name="HoMBRG">{{cite Q|Q29581637}}</ref>
Along with Peter Doyle, George Rolinson and John Nayler, he was part of the team at Betchworth that discovered and synthesised new penicillins.<ref name="RSC">{{cite web|title=National Chemical Landmark unveiled, celebrating a family of new penicillins|url=http://www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2016/jun/blue-plaque-for-beechams-at-brockham/|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|accessdate=7 June 2017|language=en|date=15 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = John Wiley & Sons| isbn = 978-0-471-89979-2| last = Sneader| first = Walter| title = Drug Discovery: A History| year= 2005 |chapter=23: Antibiotic Analogues}}</ref> A Royal Society of Chemistry blue plaque now marks this discovery.<ref name="RSC" />
In 1970 he was given a managerial position.<ref name="HoMBRG" /> From 1978 he was a Director of Beecham Pharmaceuticals, retiring in 1989.<ref name="HoMBRG" />
He received the Addingham Medal by the City of Leeds in 1966 and the Royal Society's Mullard Medal in 1971, with others, "in recognition of their contributions to the development of the semisynthetic penicillins".<ref name="HoMBRG" />
His notebook, including early chromatograms showing the presence of 6-APA, are in the collection of the Science Museum in London.<ref name="HoMBRG" />
== Notable works == * {{cite journal|last1=Batchelor|first1=F. R.|last2=Doyle|first2=F. P.|last3=Nayler|first3=J. H. C.|last4=Rolinson|first4=G. N.|title=Syntheses of penicillin: 6-aminopenicillanic acid in penicillin fermentations|journal=Nature|date=1959|volume=183|pages=257–258}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group ID}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelor, Ralph}} Category:Place of birth missing Category:1931 births Category:2021 deaths Category:British biochemists Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:British pharmacologists Category:British corporate directors