10 Facts About Robin Coombs

Robert Royston Amos Coombs was a British immunologist, co-discoverer of the Coombs test used for detecting antibodies in various clinical scenarios, such as Rh disease and blood transfusion.

Robin Coombs was born in London but attended Diocesan College in Cape Town.

Robin Coombs became a professor and researcher at the Department of Pathology of University of Cambridge, becoming a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and a founder of its Division of Immunology.

Robin Coombs was appointed the fourth Quick Professor of Biology in 1966 and continued to work at Cambridge University until 1988.

Robin Coombs is reported to have said that "[r]ed blood cells were primarily designed by God as tools for the immunologist and only secondarily as carriers of haemoglobin".

In November 1956, Coombs founded the British Society for Immunology alongside John H Humphrey, Bob White, and Avrion Mitchison.

Robin Coombs was an honorary member of the British Society for Immunology.

Robin Coombs received honorary doctoral degrees by the University of GuelphCanada, and the University of Edinburgh and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

Robin Coombs was married to Anne Blomfield, his first graduate student.

Robin Coombs was awarded the James Spence Gold Medal, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 1967 for developing the Robin Coombs test.