John Arthur Joseph Pateman. 18 May 1926—18 May 2011

John Pateman was a distinguished British microbial geneticist. He came from a working-class area of London and a non-academic background. His earliest contribution to genetics was the discovery (together with John Fincham) of intracistronic complementation, an important phenomenon to understand the relationship of genetic information and protein structure; this at a time when the actual coding relationships of DNA and proteins were not yet worked out. Later on, he and his students made a fundamental contribution to the understanding of control of gene expression in eukaryotic microorganisms, providing some of the earliest examples of positive control. This work also led to the discovery of a new enzyme cofactor, the only one discovered through purely genetic evidence. He worked at various universities in Britain and Australia and trained a number of students who further developed the subject.