Hems, Reginald

Fifteen of the eighteen notebooks in the collection document biochemical research carried out by Reg Hems, (b. 1922), research assistant to the Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Hans Krebs, between the years 1946-1984. They cover the period when Hems worked with Krebs at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford. Of the remaining three notebooks, one is written by Leonard V. Eggleston, and the other two relate to the work of Barrie Tyler, who collaborated with Hems, in 1975, and Guillermo Saez Tormo, who worked in Krebs' laboratory with Hems for a year from May 1981.

Reginald Hems started work as a technician in Krebs' laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Sheffield straight from school, on 18th February 1940. In 1943, he was called up for military service, and rejoined the team as a member of Krebs' Medical Research Council Unit for Research in Cell Metabolism when he returned from service in April 1946. Krebs described him as an exceptionally skilful experimenter who mastered to perfection difficult manipulative techniques. Hems co-authored many of Krebs' papers, and collaborated with other researchers on many other articles. In 1954, Krebs became Whitley Professor of Biochemistry at Oxford University, and Hems, along with most of the other staff of the MRC Unit, moved with him. He remained with Krebs following Krebs' retirement and the relocation of the Unit to the Metabolic Research Laboratory at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1967. After Krebs' death in 1981, Hems continued to work in the Unit under the leadership of Derek Williamson, another long-term research partner of Krebs.