47mm. Gilt silver. 55.79g.
Obverse with bare head bust of Galen, reverse with Hygeia with student. Edge engraved 'Franciscus Henricus Swinden Curd, Baccalaureus In Scientiis, Lond., Doctor In Philosophia, Lond'. Stamped GILT.
Virtually as struck and housed in fitted Royal Mint embossed case of issue. Very rare and a beautiful medal.
The Galen Medal in Therapeutics is presented by the Society of Apothecaries annually and is its most prestigious honour. It has been presented annually since 1925. The Medal is awarded for important services or contributions in the broad field of therapeutics.
Francis Henry Swinden Curd (June 15th 1909- December 2nd 1948), was born at Loughton, Essex. He went to Colchester Grammar School, then to Bancroft's School and then to East London College. In 1930 he moved The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1929, and was granted his Ph.D. by London University in 1932.
At the end of 1933 Curd joined the staff of the Dyestuffs Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, and began his industrial career in their research laboratories at Blackley, Manchester, where he worked until his death. When his Company decided in late 1937 to enter the field of chemotherapy by the hard way of pioneer research and invention, it is not surprising that Curd was chosen as a member of the initial team which was so carefully picked for this difficult task. He had already shown the appropriate temperament and skill in equally difficult but less fashionable fields of chemical research. Curd set out with enthusiasm in early 1938 to survey and master the published literature on the chemotherapy of malaria and related aspects of tropical medicine as a preparation for original research work. The constitution of the relatively new German drugs atebrin (mepacrine) and plasmochin had not been clearly published at that time. During this phase of self-preparation Curd satisfied himself of the constitution of the German drugs by uneqhivocal synthesis and an exploration of various synthetic routes to these and related compounds. Thus it came about that as the war in the East developed and created the urgent need for synthetic antimalarials it was on the basis of Curd’s experimental work that it became possible to begin the first British manufacture of mepacrine quickly and effectively in 1940.
The culmination of these efforts in the discovery of “Paludrine” has been fully recorded in the Warrington Yorke Memorial Volume of the Annals of Tropical Medicine, 1945. For his important role in these antimalarial researches Curd was awarded in 1947 the Gold Medal for Chemotherapy by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. His colleagues, Davey and Rose, received this considerable honour at the same time.
Curd died in hospital on December 2nd, 1948, from injuries sustained two days earlier in a railway collision at Stockport, Cheshire, leaving behind a wife and three young children. It is really rather impressive to note that the year prior to Curd's Galen medal, the award was given to Sir Alexander Fleming, for the discovery of Penicillin. Interestingly, Curd was also one of the names on the 989 name shortlist issued by the Bank of England, to be considered as being featured on the new £50 banknote.