21 Facts About David Colquhoun

David Colquhoun has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms, and in particular the theory and practice of single ion channel function.

David Colquhoun was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1985 and an honorary fellow of UCL in 2004.

David Colquhoun was born on 19 July 1936 in Birkenhead, UK.

David Colquhoun was educated at Birkenhead School and Liverpool Technical College.

David Colquhoun obtained a BSc from the University of Leeds with a specialisation in pharmacology, and went on to complete a PhD at the University of Edinburgh where he studied the binding of immunoglobulins to lung tissue.

David Colquhoun returned to the pharmacology department at UCL in 1979, where he has remained since.

David Colquhoun researched the nature of the molecular interactions that cause single ion channels to open and shut, and what it is that controls the speed of synaptic events.

David Colquhoun has been an outspoken critic of pseudoscience and scientific fraud for many years.

David Colquhoun has written extensively on the topic, including articles and letters in Nature and The Guardian.

David Colquhoun is particularly critical of alternative medicine, and of the decision of a number of UK universities to offer science degrees incorporating courses in complementary and alternative medicine such as homoeopathy and acupuncture, stating that they are "anti-science" and that "universities that run them should be ashamed of themselves".

In December 2009, David Colquhoun won a Freedom of Information judgement, after a three-year campaign, requiring the University of Central Lancashire to release details of their BSc course in homoeopathy.

David Colquhoun created his personal website, DC's Improbable Science, devoted to criticism of pseudoscience, in 2001.

David Colquhoun's blog discusses wider problems in science, medicine and higher education.

In May 2007, David Colquhoun announced on his website that recent comments he had made questioning the validity of claims made by Ann Walker, a lecturer in Nutrition at the University of Reading and a herbalist, had resulted in a complaint to Malcolm Grant, provost of UCL.

Grant ultimately reconsidered his decision and on 13 June 2007, he and David Colquhoun released a joint statement that David Colquhoun's website would be reinstated with some modifications effected on advice of counsel.

David Colquhoun wrote two blog posts on the topic, which resulted in media attention.

David Colquhoun was a member of the Conduct and Competence Committee of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, a regulatory body for alternative medicine in the UK.

David Colquhoun has stated he was surprised at being accepted for the position.

David Colquhoun continues to write on the danger of the alternative medicine industry using government regulation for its own ends.

David Colquhoun was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1985 and awarded the Humboldt Prize in 1990.

Outside academia, David Colquhoun has enjoyed boxing, flying light aircraft, sailing, long-distance running, and mountain walking.