Biography
Lionel Sharples Penrose FRS (11 June 1898 – 12 May 1972) was an English psychiatrist , medical geneticist , paediatrician , mathematician and chess theorist , who carried out pioneering work on the genetics of intellectual disability . [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Penrose was initially the Galton professor of eugenics (1945–1963) at University College London , before having his title changed to professor of human genetics (1963–1965) at his request. He was later emeritus professor. [ 8 ] Penrose was educated at the Downs School, Colwall and the Quaker Leighton Park School , Reading . [ 8 ] On leaving school in 1916, he served, as a conscientious objector , with the Friends' Ambulance Unit / British Red Cross in France until the end of the First World War . He went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge , where he was a Cambridge Apostle . [ 8 ] At Cambridge, he gained a first class degree in moral sciences before leaving for Vienna for a year, to study at the psychological department at the University of Vienna . [ 8 ] In 1928, he qualified with the conjoint in 1928 at St Thomas' Hospital before qualifying for a Doctor of Medicine in 1930. [ 9 ] Penrose undertook research into schizophrenia , designing tests of intelligence that were non-verbal in nature that are still in use. He was one of the earliest investigators of phenylketonuria in the 1930s. [ 8 ] Fields: Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Genetics Education: St John's College, Cambridge University of Vienna King's College London
About the Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary Woodard Lasker (a medical research activist). The awards are sometimes referred to as "America's Nobels."
Quick Facts
- Award: Lasker Award - Basic Medical Research
- Added: 2026-02-07
- Source: Wikipedia
- Established: 1946
- Presented by: Lasker Foundation