Ronald Leach: Archives

The following is an interim description which may change when detailed cataloguing takes place in future:

Personal papers of Ronald Leach, including:
Experimental notebooks, 1954-1992.
Material relating to the International Research Programme on Comparative Mycoplasmology section of the International Organization for Mycoplasmology, 1978-1994.
Mycoplasmology bibliography and index, conference proceedings and related publications, 1971-1998.
Reprints, photos and articles on grey lung virus, pleuropneumonia, and mycoplasma, c.1950s-1980s.
R. Leach PhD thesis on Murine Type of Tubercule Bacilus, 1958.
R. Leach Msc thesis on Studies on Mycobacterium Ulcerans, 1952.

1952-1999

Uncatalogued: 4 transfer boxes, 2 x 3.5 inch floppy disks

Australian born bacteriologist Ronald Leach began his career at the University of Adelaide, working alongside Professor Frank Fenner. Posts at the William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney followed, before he moved over to the UK permanently to take up a position in the Virology department of the Wellcome Research Laboratories in 1959. In 1966 he moved to the Public Health Laboratory Service, where he remained for the rest of his career, holding a number of senior positions at the Central Public Health Laboratory in Colindale.

Ronald Leach specialised in research on mycoplasma, and the species mycoplasma leachii is named after him. He was also the first person to correctly identify the cause of grey lung virus.

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.