Amoroso, Professor Emmanuel Ciprian CBE, FRCP, FRS (1901-1982)

The Collection relates to E.C. Amoroso's scientific career and continued research in his retirement c.1934-1982.

Section A includes Amoroso's Curriculum Vitae and photographic collection; Section B, his collection of correspondence relating to a range of subjects, both personal and work related, broadly arranged chronologically. Section C, Academic Writing, is a compilation of a variety of materials produced, collected and annotated by Amoroso including orations, draft papers and reviews.

The collection is then broadly divided into activities, groups and organisations that E.C. Amoroso was involved with; Section D, The Royal Society; Section E; International Centre for Research on Manatees (INCEREMAN); Section F. Mariculture (Cayman Turtle Farm); and Section G, the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Task Force.

1934-1982

25 boxes

A. Personal Papers, 1930s-1982

B. Correspondence, 1937-1982

C. Academic Writing, c.1934-1982

D. Royal Society, 1957-1968

E. Manatee Research and International Centre for Research on Manatees, 1960-1981

F. Mariculture and the Cayman Turtle Farm, 1973-1982

G. Trinidad and Tobago: Medical Task Force, 1978-1982

07/10/1983

Papers of Emmanuel Ciprian Amoroso C.B.E, F.R.S, Veterinary embryologist and endocrinologist, affectionately known as 'Amo' to both colleagues and friends. He was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the third in a large family of twelve children.

He attended St Thomas's Preparatory School followed by St Mary's College in Trinidad where he completed his Junior Cambridge Certificate in 1917. Due to poor health it was not until 1922 that he entered University College Dublin to study medicine. Amoroso excelled academically and graduated with a BSc science degree in 1926 and then a MB Bch BAO degree (cum laude) in 1929, completed while supporting himself financially by selling newspapers at the railway station and later teaching anatomy at the university.

After a brief time as a Surgical Intern in Dublin he was awarded a travelling studentship in 1930. Amoroso spent time at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg and at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Research in Berlin, publishing his first scientific paper on the embryological development of the pancreas of the chick. At this time he also began to study European languages in order to avoid any bias given to scientific research upon translation.

In 1933 Amoroso moved to University College London, studying under the professor J. P. Hill F.R.S., and obtained his PhD in 1934 for his work, 'Observations on the development of the urogenital system of the rabbit, with special reference to the development of the Mullerian Ducts'.

Upon completion of his PhD, Amoroso joined the Royal Veterinary College as a senior assistant in charge of history and embryology where biographers have noted that, being the first coloured member of staff at the college, he experienced some racial discrimination from both students and professors.

By 1948 he was appointed Chair of Physiology at the Royal Veterinary College and also acting Professor of Anatomy. When the college later became part of the University College London in 1950, Amoroso became professor of Veterinary Physiology, a position he held until his retirement in 1968.

Amoroso's scientific work and reviews were widely published throughout his career, with the chapter 'Placentation' in Marshall's The Physiology of Reproduction encapsulating many points of his research and philosophy.

In 1957 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, F.R.S., (and remains the only Trinidadian to ever be elected into the fellowship) and continued to receive recognition for his research by being awarded fellowships to the Royal College of Physicians (1966), Royal College of Surgeons (1960), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (1965), Royal College of Pathologists (1973) and Royal Veterinary College (1968). Amoroso was also made an honorary associate of both the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (1959) and the British Veterinary Association. The National University of Ireland awarded Amoroso their MD.

Amoroso received Honorary Doctorates of Science from University of Ireland (1963), University of Illinois (1967), University of Nottingham (1970), University of West Indies (1971), University of Guelph (1976), and also Honorary Doctorate in Veterinary Science at the University of Chile (1966).

For his research he was also awarded the Mary Marshall medal of the Society of Fertility (1972), Ludwig-Schunk Prize (1977), Carl Hartman medal of the society for the study of reproduction (1982) and also the Dale Medal by the Society for Endocrinology, which was awarded at a symposium held in honour of his 80th birthday in 1981.

Well respected in his field of of research, E.C. Amoroso achieved further recognition and honour by being awarded a CBE (1969) and the Trinity Cross of Trinidad and Tobago (1977).

Amoroso's contribution to research in reproductive biology did not stop upon his retirement. The University of London made Amoroso an emeritus professor upon his retirement allowing him to participate in visiting professorships, travelling to institutions in Santiago, Sydney, Nairobi and Geulph; became a special professor at the University of Nottingham, and also continued to work from the the Agricultural Research Council's Institute of Animal Physiology at Babraham.

A founding member of the Society for Endocrinology and involved in the development of the Zoological Society of London, Amoroso acted in a advisory capacity to companies including Mariculture Ltd (Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd), participated in the International Manatee Workshop held in George Town, British Guyana, and advised upon the new Medical Complex being developed in Trinidad.

For further biographical material on E. C. Amoroso see Oxford Dictionary National Biography's entry for Emmanuel Cirprian Amoroso, and Short. R.V., 1985, 'Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society: Emmanuel Cirprian Amoroso'.

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.