Major events since 1945

Professor Jussi Taipale, Herchel Smith Professor of Biochemistry
  • 1947: Death of Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins FRS.
  • 1949: Professor Frank Young FRS succeeds Professor Albert Charles Chibnall FRS as Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and Head of Department.
  • 1949: First International Congress of Biochemistry.
  • 1963: New Wellcome Wing of the Hopkins Building opens.
  • 1975: Professor Hans Kornberg FRS succeeds Young as Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and Head of Department.
  • 1985: Professor Richard Perham FRS succeeds Kornberg as Head of Department.
  • 1985: NMR Facility established with Dr Peter Morris as its head.
  • 1993: DNA Sequencing Facility established with Dr Peter Leadlay as its head.
  • 1995: Professor Tom Blundell FRS succeeds Kornberg as Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry.
  • 1996: Professor Tom Blundell FRS succeeds Perham as Head of Department.
  • 1997: Sanger Building opens (cost £15M).
  • 1997: Crystallography Facility established with Dr Ben Luisi as its head.
  • 1999: Part III (4th year) Biochemistry teaching course introduced.
  • 2000: Cambridge Centre for Proteomics established with Dr Kathryn Lilley as its head.
  • 2002: Professor Jean Thomas FRS acts as Head of Department for one year.
  • 2006: Professor Peter Leadlay FRS appointed to the second established Chair, the Herchel Smith Professor of Biochemistry.
  • 2009: Professor Gerard Evan FRS succeeds Blundell as Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and Head of Department.
  • 2011: Plaque unveiled commemorating the life and work of Hopkins.
  • 2016: Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility established with Dr Dima Chirgadze as its head.
  • 2017: Professor Jussi Taipale succeeds Leadlay as Herchel Smith Professor of Biochemistry.
  • 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic and first national lockdown causes the complete closure of the University of Cambridge. Non-essential staff in our Department began working from home on 16 March, with all administrative and support staff working off-site from 18 March. The University and our Department fully closed on 20 March for 3 months. The Sanger Building reopened on 17 June for non-COVID-19 research (having stayed open as a COVID-19 research facility during the lockdown) and the Hopkins Building reopened on 24 June, with both operating initially at only 25% capacity.
  • 2022: Professor Eric Miska succeeds Evan as Head of Department.