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Oxford Scientists

2 of 7 portraits of Sir Ernst Chain

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© the estate of W.Suschitzky

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Oxford Scientists

by Wolfgang Suschitzky
gelatin silver print, 1944
11 5/8 in. x 14 3/4 in. (295 mm x 375 mm)
Purchased, 1994
Primary Collection
NPG P562

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  • Wolfgang Suschitzky (1912-2016), Photographer and cinematographer. Artist or producer of 77 portraits.

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In 1944, ICI commissioned a film from the Realist Film Unit whose chief cameraman was Suschitzky, which documented the development and manufacture of penicillin in Britain. It showed scenes including a re-enactment of Sir Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, the treatment of a wounded soldier, and Sir Howard Florey, Sir Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley at work on the chemistry of penicillin in their Oxford laboratory. Sir Ernst Chain is shown here with fellow scientist Professor Robert Robinson in his office at Magdalen College, Oxford.

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Current affairs

London is hit by the V1 Flying Bomb. This weapon, developed by the German Luftwaffe and colloquially known as the 'Buzz Bomb', or 'Doodlebug', was the first guided missile and was used for attacks on targets in England and Belgium.

Art and science

Laurence Olivier's epic film version of Henry V is released. Olivier directed and starred in the film, which was partly funded by the British government in recognition of its morale-boosting patriotic appeal. The cast included service men as Henry's army.

International

France is liberated from German-occupation following the Battle for Normandy. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied-France led by Field Marshall Montgomery, was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million soldiers crossing the channel from England to France. Troops landed on the 6th June (D-Day), and Paris was liberated in late August.

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