Audrey T. Carpenter is a British biographer, after starting out as a researcher in biochemistry.
Career
editAudrey Taylor Smith was born in Dorking on 7 September 1935 and grew up mainly in Banstead. She attended Sutton High School from 1942-1953, when she was awarded a State Scholarship, and gained a place at the Imperial College of Science and Technology (now Imperial College London), to read chemistry; she graduated in 1956.
She then studied for a PhD at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in Professor Albert Neuberger's Department of Chemical Pathology, under the supervision of J J Scott.[1][2] She was awarded a PhD from the University of London in 1959.
In September 1961 Audrey and her husband John Carpenter sailed on the Queen Mary[3] to the United States to undertake postdoctoral research. They were first at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, part of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons at W 168th St, New York. Audrey was in David Sprinson's[4] department. The following summer Carpenter and her husband drove across the United States to the west coast and and then east to Detroit, where she undertook research in the Department of Chemistry at Wayne State University, in T T Tchen's group.[5]
Carpenter returned to the UK in 1963 and in the following year she and her husband moved to Sandwich, Kent. In 1978 the family moved to Marly-le-Roi and later Fourqueux, 20 km west of Paris. Their two daughters attended the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, while John worked in Paris.
In 1984 the family moved to a village near Loughborough. John had been appointed Technical Director at Riker Laboratories, later 3M Health Care, in Loughborough. Audrey decided to pursue a part-time degree in English at Loughborough University. She was awarded a BA degree in 1990 and went on to study for a PhD under the supervision of Professor Bill Overton,[6] which was awarded in 2010. Carpenter spent the next few years further researching 18th-century people of note, including her 5x great-grandmother Giovanna Sestini.[7] [A full list of her publications will be provided later. The site which lists them is currently closed for maintenance.].
Personal life
editAudrey met John G D Carpenter, who was also studying chemistry in the same year at Imperial.[8] They were married at the register office, Epsom in August 1958. They had two daughters, born in Canterbury in 1966 and 1967. Audrey and John now live in Leicestershire.
- ^ Carpenter, Audrey T; Scott, J J (1959). "The relationship of opsopyrroledicarboxylic acid to the biosynthesis of porphyrin". Biochem J. 71 (2): 325–333.
- ^ Carpenter, A T; Scott, J J (2 September 1961). "The inhibition of porphobilinogen deaminase by isoporphobilinogen". Biochim Biophys Acta. 52. Elsevier: 195–8. doi:10.1016/0006-3002(61)90918-0.
- ^ New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967
- ^ "Deaths Sprinson, David". The New York Times. 6 May 2007.
- ^ Constantopoulos, George; Carpenter, Audrey; Satoh, Paul S; Tchen, T T (1 May 1966). "Formation of Isocaproaldehyde in the Enzymatic Cleavage of Cholesterol Side Chain by Adrenal Extract". Biochemistry. 5 (5). ACS Publications: 1650–1652. doi:10.1021/bi00869a029.
- ^ Hastings, Rob. "The best poet you've never heard of? The tragic mission to rescue the reputation of Lord Hervey". inews. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
- ^ "Alumna Audrey enjoys writing success". Loughborough University Alumni. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
- ^ "Scholarship Awards". Hastings and St Leonards Observer. 19 December 1953. p. 8.
John G D Carpenter 126 Queen's Road, Hastings Grammar School, at present training for BSc degree in chemistry at Imperial College of Science and Technology, London