Avrion Mitchison facts for kids

(Nicholas) Avrion Mitchison (born 5 May 1928 – died 28 December 2022) was a British scientist. He studied animals (a zoologist) and also specialized in how the body fights off diseases (an immunologist).

About Avrion Mitchison

His Family and Early Life

Avrion Mitchison was born in 1928. His father, Dick Mitchison, was a politician. His mother, Naomi Mitchison, was a writer. Avrion came from a very smart family! His uncle, J.B.S. Haldane, was a famous biologist. His grandfather, John Scott Haldane, was a well-known scientist who studied how the body works. Avrion also had two older brothers who became scientists: Denis, who studied bacteria, and Murdoch, who studied animals.

Avrion married Lorna Margaret Martin. They had five children together: Tim, Matthew, Mary, Hannah, and Ellen. Two of their children, Tim and Hannah, also became cell biologists, studying the tiny parts that make up living things.

Education and Career

Avrion went to Leighton Park School. He later studied at Balliol College and earned his PhD at New College, Oxford. For his PhD, he worked with Sir Peter Medawar, who later won a Nobel Prize.

After his studies, Avrion had a long and important career. He became a Professor of Zoology at University College London. This was the same place where his uncle, J.B.S. Haldane, used to teach. He also worked at the National Institute of Medical Research in Mill Hill. Later, he helped start and became the first director of the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ) in Germany. He was a Professor Emeritus (a retired professor who keeps his title) at University College London.

Discoveries in Immunology

Avrion Mitchison made big discoveries in immunology, which is the study of the immune system. The immune system is your body's defense against sickness. He found out that the body can learn to tolerate (or not react to) certain things, whether there's a small amount or a large amount of them. This was a surprising idea at the time! He also helped create the British Society for Immunology, a group for scientists who study the immune system.

Avrion's Research Work

Avrion Mitchison's research helped us understand how the immune system works. He discovered how the body's immune system reacts to transplanted organs. He showed that this reaction is caused by special "sensitized cells" and is similar to certain allergies (called 'delayed' type hypersensitivity reactions).

He also developed a way to study mixtures of different types of cells inside living organisms. Using this method, he helped show that something called the 'radiation recovery factor' was actually living cells, not just a chemical in the body. He also carefully studied how the body learns to tolerate certain things. He proved that this tolerance lasts as long as the "thing" (called an antigen) is still present in the body.

Awards and Special Recognition

Avrion Mitchison received many honors for his scientific work.

• In 1967, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• He was also a foreign member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, a top scientific group in the USA.
• He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Weizmann Institute.
• In 1995, he was given the Novartis Prize for Basic Immunology.

Avrion Mitchison Prize for Rheumatology

To honor Avrion Mitchison, the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ) created a special award. This award is called the Avrion Mitchison Prize. It is given every year to young scientists. These scientists must have made important discoveries that help us understand and treat rheumatic diseases, which are conditions that affect joints, muscles, and bones. The prize money is 3,000 Euros.