Philip Eggleton

Philip Eggleton FRSE (1903–1954) was a British biochemist, physiologist and co-discoverer (with his wife Grace) of Phosphagens.

Philip was born at Kingston-on-Thames on 19 March 1903. He attended the Tiffin School there before going to the University of London graduating BSc in 1922 and receiving his doctorate (DSc) in 1930.

He then received a post at Edinburgh University rising to Reader in Biochemistry in the Physiology Department. He also acted as Scientific Advisor to BBC Scotland.

In 1927, in experiments on frog muscles in Cambridge, he discovered the release (on passing an electrical current) of a previously unknown substance which he labelled phosphagen. It was shown that the substance played a major role in muscular contraction.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1931. His proposers were Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, Alfred Joseph Clark, Henry Dryerre and Walter Phillips Kennedy. In the Second World War he served in the Gas Identification Service (part of the Edinburgh Civil Defence team).

He died on 7 October 1954.

He married Grace Palmer (1901-1970) who worked with him.

• The Physiological Significance of Phosphagen (1927)
• Further Observations on Phosphagen (1928)
• A Problem in the Random Distribution of Particles (1944) with William Ogilvie Kermack
• The Use of Sodium Sulphate for the Preparation of Concentrated Protein-Free Tissue Extracts