# Rickard Christophers

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{{short description|British zoologist and medical entomologist (1873–1978)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Rickard Christophers
| birth_name        = Samuel Rickard Christophers
| native_name_lang  = 
| image             = Rickard Christophers.jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1873|11|27}}
| birth_place       = [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool), England
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1978|02|19|1873|11|27}}
| death_place       = [Broadstone, Dorset](/source/Broadstone%2C_Dorset), England
| resting_place     = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} -->
| other_names       = 
| residence         = 
| fields            = {{hlist|[Protozoology](/source/Protozoology)|[medical entomology](/source/medical_entomology)}}
| workplaces        = 
| alma_mater        = [University of Liverpool](/source/University_of_Liverpool) ([MB](/source/Bachelor_of_Medicine))
| thesis_title      = 
| thesis_url        = 
| thesis_year       = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
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| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = 
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| awards            = [Manson Medal](/source/Manson_Medal) (1944)<br>[Buchanan Medal](/source/Buchanan_Medal) (1952)
| signature         = <!--(filename only)-->
| signature_alt     = 
| website           = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} -->
| footnotes         = 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Elise Emma Sherman|September 1902|1962|end=died}}
| children          = 1
| honorific_prefix  = [Sir](/source/Sir)
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CIE|OBE|FRS|size=100%}}
| module            = {{infobox military person
| embed = yes
| allegiance = [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)
| branch = [Indian Medical Service](/source/Indian_Medical_Service)
| rank = [Brevet](/source/Brevet_(military)) [Colonel](/source/Colonel)
| battles = [World War I](/source/World_War_I)
| service_years = 1902–1919
}}
}}

'''Sir Samuel Rickard Christophers''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CIE|OBE|FRS|size=100%}}<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Shortt | first1 = H. E. | last2 = Garnham | first2 = P. C. C. | author-link2 = Cyril Garnham| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1979.0005 | doi-access = free| title = Samuel Rickard Christophers. 27 November 1873-19 February 1978 | journal = [Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society](/source/Biographical_Memoirs_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society) | volume = 25 | pages = 179–207 | year = 1979 | pmid   =11615792}}</ref>) (27 November 1873 &ndash; 19 February 1978<ref>Service, M.W. [http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/pdfs/MS11N01P055.PDF Obituary* Sir Rickard Christophers: A Tribute] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224711/http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/pdfs/MS11N01P055.PDF |date=26 September 2007 }} ''Mosquito Systematics'' Vol. 11 (l), 1979, 55–58</ref>) was a British [protozoologist](/source/protozoology) and medical [entomologist](/source/entomology) specialising in [mosquito](/source/mosquito)es.<ref>Obituary- ''Antenna'' ([Royal Entomological Society](/source/Royal_Entomological_Society) Bulletin) 2 (2)</ref>

==Early life and education==
Christophers was born and raised in [Liverpool](/source/Liverpool), the son of Samuel Hunt Christophers and Mary Selina Christophers ({{Nee|Rickard}}) and educated at the [Liverpool Institute](/source/Liverpool_Institute) and [University of Liverpool](/source/University_of_Liverpool), graduating MB in 1896.

==Career==
In 1897, he took part in an Amazonian expedition and in 1898 went to Italy as part of the Malaria Commission, followed by a trip to Africa to study [malaria](/source/malaria). In 1901, the Malaria Commission moved to India.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/MS11N01P055.pdf|title= Mosquito Systematics|access-date= 18 January 2011|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110302090124/http://www.mosquitocatalog.org/files/pdfs/MS11N01P055.pdf|archive-date= 2 March 2011}}</ref>

On his return to England in 1902, he became a Lieutenant in the [Indian Medical Service](/source/Indian_Medical_Service), moving back to India in 1904. In 1910 he was appointed the first Director of the Central Malaria Bureau, coordinating anti-malarial training and research throughout India. He spent [World War I](/source/World_War_I) on anti-malaria duties in Iraq and in 1919 returned again to India as Director of the Central Research Institute at Kasauli in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Christophers was also an honorary physician to [King George V](/source/George_V_of_the_United_Kingdom) from 1927 to 1930. He was awarded [CIE](/source/Order_of_the_Indian_Empire) in 1915, [OBE](/source/Officer_of_the_Most_Excellent_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1918 and knighted in 1931. He retired from the [Indian Medical Service](/source/Indian_Medical_Service) 27 November 1930 a Brevet Colonel.<ref>Supplement to the January 1939 Indian Army List</ref> On his retirement in 1932–38, he joined the [London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine](/source/London_School_of_Hygiene_%26_Tropical_Medicine) where he became Professor of Malaria Studies in the [University of London](/source/University_of_London) and Leverhulme Fellow of the Medical Research Council in charge of the Malaria unit at the [LSHTM](/source/London_School_of_Hygiene_%26_Tropical_Medicine).<ref>{{Cite book|title=LSHTM Memoir II History of the School of Tropical Medicine in London 1899-1949|last=Manson-Bahr|first=Philip|publisher=[H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.](/source/H._K._Lewis_%26_Co._Ltd.)|year=1956|location=London|pages=202}}</ref> In 1944 Christophers was awarded the [Manson Medal](/source/Manson_Medal) by the [Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene](/source/Royal_Society_of_Tropical_Medicine_and_Hygiene) for his significant contribution to the fields of tropical medicine and hygiene.<ref>{{cite web|title=List of past medal holders|url=http://www.rstmh.org/awards/medals/list-past-medal-holders#Manson|publisher=Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910123308/http://www.rstmh.org/awards/medals/list-past-medal-holders#Manson|archive-date=10 September 2011}}</ref>

Sir Philip Manson-Bahr, son-in-law of [Sir Patrick Manson](/source/Patrick_Manson), described Sir Rickard Christophers in 1956:

''<nowiki/>'Christophers is known everywhere for his endearing qualities. He has a modest bearing and a curious hesitant manner accompanied by a cheerful giggle. He is the friend, philosopher and mentor of all keen young men of science''<ref>{{Cite book|title=LSHTM Memoir II History of the School of Tropical Medicine in London 1899-1949|last=Manson-Bahr|first=Philip|publisher=[H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.](/source/H._K._Lewis_%26_Co._Ltd.)|year=1956|location=London|pages=202}}</ref>''<nowiki/>'''

== Personal life and death ==
He had married Elise Emma Sherman in London in September 1902. She was the daughter of the owner of a coffee estate in India. Their first child, Elise Iseult, was born in June 1903 in [Allahabad](/source/Prayagraj), India, and their son, Samuel Vagn, in December the following year in [Madras](/source/Madras). Lady Christophers died in England in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1979 |title=Obituary - Sir Rickard Christopher |url=https://archive.org/stream/cbarchive_118726_obituarysirrickardchristopher1979/MS_V11_N1_P055-58_djvu.txt}}</ref>

He on 19 February 1978 died at [Broadstone, Dorset](/source/Broadstone%2C_Dorset).

==Awards==
He was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) in May 1926.<ref name="frs"/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27christophers%27%29|title= Library and Archive Catalogue|publisher= Royal Society|access-date= 22 December 2010}}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was the sixteenth president of the [Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene](/source/Royal_Society_of_Tropical_Medicine_and_Hygiene) from 1939 to 1943.

An expert on tropical medicines, Christophers studied many diseases, particularly malaria. His work on the research of this disease won him the Royal Society's 1952 [Buchanan Medal](/source/Buchanan_Medal) for "outstanding research" on the Anopheles mosquito that transmitted malaria. In his career he also contributed to the [taxonomy](/source/Taxonomy_(biology)) of other [parasites](/source/parasitism).

==Works==
*A summary of the recent observations upon the [Anopheles](/source/Anopheles) of the Middle East. ''Indian Journal of Medical Research'' 7, pp.&nbsp;710–716 (1920).
*With Shortt, H.E.: Malaria in [Mesopotamia](/source/Mesopotamia). ''Indian Journal of Medical Research'' 8, pp.&nbsp;508–529 (1921).
*''[The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma](/source/The_Fauna_of_British_India%2C_Including_Ceylon_and_Burma)''. [Diptera](/source/Diptera) Volume IV (1933).

==References==
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christophers, Samuel Rickard}}
Category:1873 births
Category:1978 deaths
Category:People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys
Category:Medical doctors from Liverpool
Category:British zoologists
Category:British entomologists
Category:British men centenarians
Category:Malariologists
Category:Manson medal winners
Category:British parasitologists
Category:Scientists from Liverpool
Category:British fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Naturalists from British India
Category:Indian Medical Service officers
Category:Presidents of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Medical entomologists
Category:Academics of the University of London
Category:People from Broadstone, Dorset
Category:British expatriates in India
Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers
Category:British medical researchers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rickard Christophers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickard_Christophers) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickard_Christophers?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.