Norman Peter Leete Wildy was a 20th-century British virologist who was an expert on the herpes simplex virus.
13 Facts About Peter Wildy
1.
2.
Peter Wildy was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent on 31 March 1920 the son of Eric Lawrence Wildy an electrical engineer, and his wife, Gwendolen Leete.
3.
Peter Wildy studied Medicine at Cambridge University graduating MB ChB, and completed his medical training at St Thomas Hospital, London.
4.
Peter Wildy was called up and did his National Service as a medical officer with the Kings West African Rifles, serving in Nigeria, India and Egypt.
5.
Peter Wildy could play the flute and piccolo, kept Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, and was able to spin and dye wool, was a competent carpenter and capable of other practical activities such re-roofing a barn and re-building rooms in his house.
6.
Peter Wildy died of lung cancer on 10 March 1987 at Cotton Hall in Kedington in Suffolk.
7.
Peter Wildy obtained a research post at the Research Laboratory at St Thomas's Hospital in London, working as a bacteriologist, and was appointed to a lectureship in 1952 and senior lectureship in 1957.
8.
Peter Wildy subsequently was at the Department of Pathology at University of Cambridge where he worked on herpes simplex virus and met Michael Stoker, who would have a significant impact on his career.
9.
Peter Wildy was the first chair of the International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses.
10.
Peter Wildy's proposers were Guido Pontecorvo, Michael Stoker, Sir William Weipers and Sir Michael Swann.
11.
Peter Wildy was one of the four founders of the International Congress of Virology, first held in Helsinki in 1968.
12.
Peter Wildy became a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College.
13.
Peter Wildy was president of the Society for General Microbiology from 1978 to 1981 and an Honorary Member from 1986.