Editing Frederick Sanger (section)

==Early life and education==
Frederick Sanger was born on 13 August 1918 in [[Rendcomb]], a small village in [[Gloucestershire]], England, the second son of Frederick Sanger, a [[general practitioner]], and his wife, Cicely Sanger (née Crewdson).<ref name=nobelbio>{{Cite web | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1958: Frederick Sanger – biography | url= https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1958/sanger/biographical/ | publisher=Nobelprize.org | access-date=10 August 2020}}</ref> He was one of three children. His brother, Theodore, was only a year older, while his sister May (Mary) was five years younger.<ref name=brownlee>{{Cite web | title=A Life of Research on the Sequences of Proteins and Nucleic Acids: Fred Sanger in conversation with George Brownlee | date=9 October 1992 | url=http://jiscmediahub.ac.uk/record/display/012-00002584 | publisher=Biochemical Society, Edina – Film & Sound Online | access-date=29 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313164607/http://jiscmediahub.ac.uk/record/display/012-00002584 | archive-date=13 March 2014 | url-status=dead }}. Subscription required. A 200&nbsp;min interview divided into 44 segments. Notes give the content of each segment. {{Dead link|date=March 2019}}</ref>  His father had worked as an Anglican medical missionary in China but returned to England because of ill health. He was 40 in 1916 when he married Cicely, who was four years younger. Sanger's father converted to [[Quakerism]] soon after his two sons were born and brought up the children as Quakers. Sanger's mother was the daughter of an affluent cotton manufacturer and had a Quaker background, but was not a Quaker.<ref name=brownlee/><!-- This unreliable source http://pennyghael.org.uk/Wilson3.pdf provides genealogical info which is consistent with statements made by Sanger in interviews.
Mother 27 January 1880 – 3 February 1938 – aged 58
Father 20 July 1876 – 6 May 1937 – aged 60
They married in 27 September 1916 -->

When Sanger was around five years old the family moved to the small village of [[Tanworth-in-Arden]] in Warwickshire. The family was reasonably wealthy and employed a governess to teach the children. In 1927, at the age of nine, he was sent to the [[The Downs School (Herefordshire)|Downs School]], a residential preparatory school run by Quakers near [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]]. His brother Theo was a year ahead of him at the same school. In 1932, at the age of 14, he was sent to the recently established [[Bryanston School]] in Dorset. This used the [[Dalton Plan|Dalton]] system and had a more liberal regime which Sanger much preferred. At the school he liked his teachers and particularly enjoyed scientific subjects.<ref name=brownlee/> Able to complete his [[School Certificate (UK)|School Certificate]] a year early, for which he was awarded seven credits, Sanger was able to spend most of his last year of school experimenting in the laboratory alongside his chemistry master, Geoffrey Ordish, who had originally studied at Cambridge University and been a researcher in the [[Cavendish Laboratory]]. Working with Ordish made a refreshing change from sitting and studying books and awakened Sanger's desire to pursue a scientific career.<ref name=marksearly>{{Cite web | last=Marks | first=Lara | title=Sanger's early life: From the cradle to the laboratory | url=http://www.whatisbiotechnology.org/exhibitions/sanger/early | publisher=What is Biotechnology  | work=The path to DNA sequencing: The life and work of Fred Sanger | access-date=1 September 2015}}</ref> In 1935, prior to heading off to college, Sanger was sent to [[Schule Schloss Salem]] in southern Germany on an exchange program. The school placed a heavy emphasis on athletics, which caused Sanger to be much further ahead in the course material compared to the other students. He was shocked to learn that each day was started with readings from Hitler's [[Mein Kampf]], followed by a [[Sieg Heil]] salute.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jeffers |first1=Joe S. |title=Frederick Sanger Two-Time Nobel Laureate in Chemistry |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International| isbn=978-3-319-54707-7 }}</ref>

In 1936 Sanger went to [[St John's College, Cambridge]], to study natural sciences. His father had attended the same college. For Part&nbsp;I of his [[Tripos]] he took courses in physics, chemistry, biochemistry and mathematics but struggled with physics and mathematics.  Many of the other students had studied more mathematics at school. In his second year he replaced physics with physiology. He took three years to obtain his Part&nbsp;I. For his Part&nbsp;II he studied biochemistry and obtained a 1st Class Honours. Biochemistry was a relatively new department founded by [[Gowland Hopkins]] with enthusiastic lecturers who included [[Malcolm Dixon (biochemist)|Malcolm Dixon]], [[Joseph Needham]] and [[Ernest Baldwin]].<ref name=brownlee/>

Both his parents died from cancer during his first two years at Cambridge. His father was 60 and his mother was 58. As an undergraduate Sanger's beliefs were strongly influenced by his Quaker upbringing. He was a pacifist and a member of the [[Peace Pledge Union]]. It was through his involvement with the [[Cambridge Scientists' Anti-War Group]] that he met his future wife, Joan Howe, who was studying economics at [[Newnham College]]. They courted while he was studying for his Part&nbsp;II exams and married after he had graduated in December 1940. Sanger, although brought up and influenced by his religious upbringing, later began to lose sight of his Quaker related ways. He began to see the world through a more scientific lens, and with the growth of his research and scientific development he slowly drifted farther from the faith he grew up with. He had nothing but respect for the religious and states he took two things from it, truth and respect for all life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1980/sanger/25898-interview-transcript-1980-2/|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1980}}</ref> Under the [[Military Training Act 1939]] he was provisionally registered as a [[conscientious objector]], and again under the [[National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939]], before being granted unconditional exemption from military service by a tribunal. In the meantime he undertook training in social relief work at the Quaker centre, Spicelands, Devon and served briefly as a hospital orderly.<ref name=brownlee/>

Sanger began studying for a [[PhD]] in October 1940 under [[Norman Pirie|N.W. "Bill" Pirie]]. His project was to investigate whether edible protein could be obtained from grass. After little more than a month Pirie left the department and [[Albert Neuberger]] became his adviser.<ref name=brownlee/> Sanger changed his research project to study the metabolism of [[lysine]]<ref name="sangerphd">{{Cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Frederick |last=Sanger |title=The metabolism of the amino acid lysine in the animal body |publisher=University of Cambridge |date=1944 |url=http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=35253 |author-link=Frederick Sanger |access-date=5 December 2013 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417201357/http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=35253 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and a more practical problem concerning the nitrogen of potatoes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Neuberger|Sanger|1942}}; {{Harvnb|Neuberger|Sanger|1944}}</ref> His thesis had the title, "The metabolism of the amino acid lysine in the animal body". He was examined by [[Charles Harington (chemist)|Charles Harington]] and [[Albert Charles Chibnall]] and awarded his doctorate in 1943.<ref name=brownlee/>