Alfred Louis Bacharach facts for kids
Alfred Louis Bacharach (born August 11, 1891 – died July 16, 1966) was a clever British scientist who studied food. He also wrote many books about science and music. He was known for his important work with vitamins and for helping people understand music history. He often wrote under the name A.L. Bacharach.
Early Life and Education
Alfred Bacharach was born in Hampstead, London. He went to St Paul's School, London and then to Clare College, Cambridge until 1914. While at Cambridge, he joined the Fabian Society. This group believed in making society fairer through peaceful changes. There, he became lifelong friends with a journalist named William Norman Ewer.
Bacharach was also a member of the 1917 Club, a meeting place for socialists in London. Later, he got involved with the Guild Socialist Movement. For 40 years, he worked with the Labour Research Department, which studied workers' rights and social issues. From 1914 onwards, he was closely connected to the Working Men's College in North West London. Many of his friends and colleagues, like Ivor Brown and C. E. M. Joad, also worked there.
A Career in Science
During World War I, Bacharach worked as a chemist at the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Kent. In 1920, he became an analytical chemist at Joseph Nathan and Co Ltd in Greenford, Middlesex. This company later became Glaxo Laboratories Ltd, and eventually GlaxoSmithKline, a very big pharmaceutical company.
Bacharach was promoted to chief chemist and then became the head of the nutrition research unit. He spent most of his working life at Glaxo. He was there when vitamins first started to be sold commercially. He worked with Harry Jephcott on this important topic. Bacharach strongly supported adding vitamin D to baby milk in Britain. This helped to get rid of rickets, a bone disease that was common in northern cities. Later in his career, he was in charge of editing Glaxo's scientific papers.
While at Glaxo, he wrote a book called Science and Nutrition. He also edited other important books about food and medicine, like The Nation's Food: A Survey of Scientific Data.
Outside of his work at Glaxo, Bacharach helped start and became president of The Nutrition Society. He was also a vice president of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Society of Chemical Industry, and the Society of Public Analysts. He served on many other scientific committees too.
Passion for Music
Besides science, Bacharach's biggest interest was music history. His love for music started at St Paul's School and continued at Cambridge. He was a talented pianist, but he always called himself an "amateur" or "passive musician."
For 20 years, Bacharach was the program secretary for the Sunday Chamber Music Society Concerts at the Working Men's College. He convinced famous artists like Harriet Cohen and Solomon to perform there. Some of these performances were the very first times certain music by Arnold Bax was played.
In the 1940s and 1950s, he edited a series of music books. Many of these books became very popular and stayed in print for a long time. They were published in the mass-market Pelican Books series by Allen Lane. Some of his well-known music books include The Musical Companion and Lives of the Great Composers. He also wrote for magazines like the Week-end Review and the New Statesman.
Personal Life
Alfred Bacharach kept his interests in politics and education throughout his life. He loved reading detective stories and claimed to read one every day! He was a member of the Savage Club, a private club in London. His other hobbies included chess and birdwatching.
He passed away at his home in Hampstead, London, at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Owen (known as Lily), and their two sons.
