 peter dennis mitchell, frs (29 september 1920 &ndash; 10 april 1992) was a british biochemist who was awarded the 1978 nobel prize for chemistry for his discovery of the chemiosmotic mechanism of atp synthesis. ==biography== peter d. mitchell was born in mitcham, surrey on 29 september 1920. his parents were christopher gibbs mitchell, a civil servant, and kate beatrice dorothy (nÃ©e) taplin. his uncle was sir godfrey way mitchell, chairman of george wimpey. he was educated at queen's college, taunton, and at jesus college, cambridge where he studied the natural sciences tripos specialising in biochemistry. he accepted a research post in the department of biochemistry, cambridge, in 1942, and received the degree of ph.d. in early 1951 for work on the mode of action of penicillin. in 1955 he was invited by professor michael swann to set up a biochemical research unit, called the chemical biology unit, in the department of zoology, edinburgh university, where he was appointed to a senior lectureship in 1961, to a readership in 1962, although ill health led to his resignation in 1963. ==independent researcher== from then to 1965, he supervised the restoration of a regency-fronted mansion, known as glynn house, near bodmin, cornwall - adapting a major part of it for use as a research laboratory. he and his former research colleague, jennifer moyle founded a charitable company, known as glynn research ltd., to promote fundamental biological research at glynn house and they embarked on a programme of research on 
1920_births 1992_deaths Academics_of_the_University_of_Edinburgh Alumni_of_Jesus_College,_Cambridge British_Nobel_laureates British_biochemists English_Nobel_laureates English_biochemists Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Independent_scholars Nobel_laureates_in_Chemistry People_educated_at_Queen\'s_College,_Taunton People_from_Mitcham Recipients_of_the_Copley_Medal