Obituary: Prof Geoffrey Dutton FRSE

Published on Monday 21 June 2010 21:19

Academic who helped establish Scotland as a world centre for biomedical sciences

Born: 30 December, 1924, in Chester.

Died: 1 June, 2010, in Angus, aged 85.

GEOFFREY Dutton was a pioneering biomolecular and biomedical scientist, poet and author.

His revolutionary work on the way the body deals with toxic molecules established glucuronidation as a new field of research and continues to have a profound influence on modern medicine, veterinary medicine, toxicology and pharmaceutical development.

An important finding was that the way in which a baby's body metabolises pharmaceuticals is fundamentally different from the way in which the adult body does. Dutton's research had a direct and profound effect on prescribing policy for newborn children and infants – saving many lives.

Under his direction, research also revealed how different species handle toxic molecules in different ways. This new insight changed the way pharmaceuticals were used in veterinary medicine and highlighted the limitations of animal testing in measuring chemical toxicity.

Dutton completed his PhD in Edinburgh before beginning research and teaching at Dundee University, where he was to remain for the rest of his career. His group helped establish Dundee and Scotland as an international centre for biomedical sciences. Over 50 years he became one of the world's most respected authorities in his field and his work received international honours.

During his work, Dutton came into contact with Dundee's writer-in-residence Anne Stevenson, to mutual benefit of their poetries. Dutton's style was innovative; austere and concise. Underlying his literature was a deep appreciation of Scotland and its people. He loved our contrasting light and dark, our character and our wit. Dutton emphasised the essential unity of art and science.

Dutton possessed a sharp wit; at any point in conversation his eyes would look down briefly then rise, twinkling with a new witticism – often in one of the sizeable range of voices he expertly mimicked. His wit was apparent in the mountaineering books The Ridiculous Mountains and Nothing So Simple As Climbing, which remain highly acclaimed in the mountaineering world.

Dutton's interest in the hills began as an undergraduate, and developed into membership of the Scottish Mountaineering Club. While editing the SMC Journal, he was credited with raising the standard and broadening its appeal.

In addition to the hills, he liked to engage with the sea, lochs and rivers, with snorkel and fins, often for many hours at a time.

In 1957, he and his wife Elizabeth settled in northern Perthshire. Here, in nine acres of wooded hillside, he created his "marginal" garden – rich and diverse, yet fully integrated with the natural upland ecosystem.

This resulted in two books, Harvesting The Edge and Some Branch Against the Sky.

Professor Geoffrey Dutton is survived by his wife Elizabeth, children Alasdair, Rory and Kirsty, and grandchildren.