Rothera, Arthur Cecil Hamel (1880 - 1915)

Summary

Arthur Rothera was a biochemist highly-respected for his research in Britain and Australia. After receiving his degree from the University of Cambridge he studied at the Kaiser-Wilhlems-Universität, Strasbourg, before returning to the United Kingdom. His early research was on the amino acid cyctine, and on the sodium nitro-prusside reaction for acetone, one outcome of which was Rothera's Test used for many years by clinicians in testing for diabetes. In 1906 Rothera was appointed Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Melbourne, the first such appointment at any Australian university. As lecturer he was required to teach in both the Physiology and Agriculture schools. His research interests encompassed the chemistry and physiology of milk, water purification on farms, and the poisonous principle of pituri. He made contacts broadly across the University and was active in expanding his department. Although appointed to the University's Appointments Board in 1914, he never served because the Board did not sit until after his death. Rothera enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1915, but died within weeks before embarkation.

Details

Chronology

1903

Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Cambridge

1906

Education - Member, Royal College of Surgeons, London (MRCS)

1906

Education - Licentiate, Royal College of Physicians, London (LRCP)

1906 - 1915

Career position - Lecturer in Biochemistry, Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne

August 1906

Life event - Arrived in Melbourne

1908 - 1915?

Career position - Member, Physiological Society, United Kingdom

1914 - 1915

Career position - Member, Appointments Board, University of Melbourne

September 1915

Military service - Enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Rothera, A. C. H., Notes on pharmacology (Melbourne: Ford, 1912), 85 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Flesch, Juliet, '"He Died with his Scientific Work Little More than Begun": the Life and Work of Arthur Cecil Hamel Rothera', Circa: the Journal of the Professional Historians, 3 (Dec.) (2012), 52-60. Details
• Flesch, Juliet, ''A Biochemist of the Best Type': The Contribution of Arthur Cecil Hamel Rothera to Biochemistry in Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, 23 (2) (2012), 120-31, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12015. Details
• Hopkins, F. Gowland, 'Arthur Cecil Hamel Rothera', Biochemical journal, 10 (1) (1916), 11-3, https://doi.org/10.1042/bj0100011. Details
• Jackson, Lilias C., McNab, Leslie and Rothera, A. C. H., 'The electrical conductivity of milk during its concentration, with suggestions for a practical method of determining the end point in the manufacture of sweetened condensed milk', Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 33 (2) (1914), 59-60. https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5000330203. Details
• Jackson, Lilias Charlotte and Rothera, Arthur Cecil Hamel, 'Milk: its milk sugar, conductivity and depression of freezing point', Biochemical journal, 8 (1) (1914), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1042/bj0080001. Details
• Osborne, W. A., 'The Late Captain A. C. H. Rothera', Speculum (1915), 260-3. Details
• Rothera, A, C, H,, 'The alkaloid of pituri obtained from Duboisia hopwoodii', Biochemical journal, 5 (5) (1909), 193-206. Details
• Rothera, A. C. H., 'Experiments on cystin and its relation to sulphur metabolism', Journal of physiology, 32 (2) (1905), 175-82. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1905.sp001074. Details

Resources

• CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, 'NAA: B2455, Rothera Arthur Cecil Hamel', B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=8038704. Details