William Hewitt

It is with  sadness that I've learnt of the recent passing of William (Bill) Hewitt, a biologist of some distinction. He was also part of the original team that set up the Pharmaceutical Microbiology Masters degree run from the University of Manchester, and he was a support of Pharmig.

William Hewitt authored three important books on biological assays during the 1970s and 1980s:

• 'Microbiological Assay for Pharmaceutical Analysis: A Rational Approach'
• 'Theory and Application of Microbiological Assay'
• 'Microbiological Assay: An Introduction to Quantitative Principles and Evaluation'

The introduction to one of the books captures the aims of Bill's work:

"Microbiological Assay for Pharmaceutical Analysis: A Rational Approach provides a lucid explanation of the sources of error in microbiological assay and helps analysts choose efficient assay designs that will minimize those sources of error. Beginning with a review of the theoretical basis for the quantitative aspects, the author discusses microbiological assay as a branch of pharmaceutical analysis and distinguishes it from biological assay in general. He draws attention to the microbiological aspects that may not be so obvious to the chemical analyst and to the analytical aspects that may not be so obvious to the microbiologist."

As a supreme innovator and educator in the field, he will be missed.

Posted by Tim Sandle