Richard Helmuth Frederick Manske

Richard Helmuth Frederick Manske

Richard Helmuth Frederick Manske, scientist (b at Berlin, Ger Sept 1901; d at Guelph, Ont 7 Sept 1977). In 1906 Manske immigrated with his family to Macklin, Saskatchewan. After studying at Queen's and the University of Manchester and spending 5 years in the US, he returned to Canada in 1931 to the National Research Council, Ottawa. Appointed director of Dominion Rubber Co (now UniRoyal) Research Laboratories at Guelph, Ontario, in 1943, he retired in 1966 and joined the University of Waterloo as adjunct professor of chemistry. His studies of the plant alkaloids span some 50 years and resulted in over 150 research publications and 17 volumes of a standard reference monograph. His other interests ranged from music, astronomy, bird-watching and Greek philosophy to the culinary arts. Elected to the RSC (1935), he was president (1964) and honorary fellow (1967) of the Chemical Institute of Canada and received its medal (1959) and the Morley Medal of the American Chemical Society (1972).