Denis Anthony Mitchison was a British bacteriologist.
Occupation
microbiologist
Born
September 6, 1919
Died
July 2, 2018
Overview
Denis Anthony Mitchison (6 September 1919 – 2 July 2018) was a British bacteriologist.
Early life, family and education
Mitchison was born in Oxford in 1919, the son of the Labour politician Dick Mitchison and his wife, the writer Naomi (née Haldane). His uncle was the biologist J.B.S. Haldane and his grandfather the physiologist John Scott Haldane. His younger brothers are the zoologists Avrion Mitchison and the late Murdoch Mitchison.
In 1954 Denis Mitchison's mother wrote the fantasy book Graeme and the Dragon, in which the protagonist is her grandson, Denis's son Graeme Mitchison.
He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford, and Abbotsholme School, going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied natural science, obtaining a 1st class degree and a senior scholarship. He only then changed to medicine, qualifying from University College in 1943, and chose postgraduate training in pathology.
