Papers of Guido Pontecorvo, personal and family photographs and negatives

Includes:

Science photograph album, including photographs of Pontecorvo with notable scientific colleagues at conferences and lectures, at the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium in 1946, and at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Glasgow;

80th birthday photograph album compiled for Pontecorvo by friends and colleagues at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Glasgow to celebrate his 80th birthday. Contains photographs of the Institute of Genetics, old friends and colleagues, Glasgow and Loch Lomond, and 80th birthday celebrations in Pisa, Italy. Copies of photographs were submitted by friends and colleagues and added to the album;

Loose bundles of photographs and negatives of Pontecorvo with family and friends at various occasions over the years, including photographs of Pontecorvo as a young man, photographs of Pontecorvo at his Swiss chalet in St Luc, photographs of Pontecorvo at various birthday celebrations, photographs of Pontecorvo with friends and colleagues at genetics meetings and conferences, and the opening of the new building for the Institute of Genetics at the University of Glasgow.

This description is part of the main Guido Pontecorvo collection which has been divided into the following sections, each with its own separate description:
UGC 198/1, biographical material;
UGC 198/2, career and appointments;
UGC 198/3, genetics research correspondence;
UGC 198/4, alpine research correspondence;
UGC 198/5, material relating to research trips abroad;
UGC 198/6, research slides;
UGC 198/7, publications;
UGC 198/8, lectures and broadcasts;
UGC 198/9, personal and family material;
UGC 198/10, personal photographs and slides.

Wellcome Collection does not hold a digitised copy of all items in this section. Negatives within this section have not been digitised. Items from UGC 198/10 can be viewed in the searchroom at Archive Services, University of Glasgow. Please visit the Glasgow University Archive Services website or see the complete catalogue for full details.

c.1924-2007

around 0.3 metres

The albums have been described as file and each page number as an item description. It was felt that this level of detail was required as the albums contain photographs of many notable scientists and colleagues and are wonderful resources for people interested in the history of genetics. The photographs and negatives that were found loose and in no particular order have been separated into a section of family photos and negatives and a work/genetics related section. Items are arranged chronologically within record series.

Guido Pellegrino Arrigo Pontecorvo (1907-1999), who liked to be known by his nickname, Ponte, was an Italian geneticist who became the University of Glasgow's first Professor of Genetics in 1955, and has been described as "one of the founding fathers of modern genetics". He endowed prizes and scholarships for students at the University and the Genetics Building was named for him in 1995. Born and educated in Pisa, Pontecorvo was forced to leave Italy in 1938 and settled in Scotland. He was appointed a lecturer in Genetics at the University's Zoology Department in 1945, and a new department was set up in the Anatomy laboratories of the Anderson College building soon afterwards. He became a Reader in 1952, three years before his appointment to the new Chair. He left Glasgow in 1968 to take a post at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's laboratories in London. Pontecorvo was one of the leading figures of his day in the study of of cell genetics. For a more detailed biography see the full Pontecorvo collection description.

GB 0248 UGC 198/3, the section of Pontecorvo's genetics research correspondence contains letters from many of the people who appear in photographs in the Science photograph album and in the loose bundle of photographs relating to conferences, meetings and lectures.

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to: Duty Archivist, Archive Services, University of Glasgow, 13 Thurso Street, Glasgow, G11 6PE, or email enquiries@archives.gla.ac.uk.

Open and available at Glasgow University Archives Service.

This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 0248 procedures.

A digitised copy is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics. Negatives within this section have not been digitised.

The original material is held at Glasgow University Archive Services. This catalogue is held by the Wellcome Library as part of Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics.