Background
He was the son of silk merchant Henry Gaddum and his wife Phyllis.
Pharmacologist university professor
He was the son of silk merchant Henry Gaddum and his wife Phyllis.
He was educated at Moorland House School, Heswall, Cheshire, Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Physiology at the University of Cambridge in 1922, and his Doctor of Medicine at University College London in 1925.
From 1927-1933, Gaddum worked under Henry Dale at the National Institute for Medical Research, and helped develop the classical laws of drug antagonism. He showed that sympathetic nerves release adrenaline. Together with Ulf von Euler, he established the release of acetylcholine in autonomic ganglia.
From 1933-1935, Gaddum was professor of pharmacology at the University of Cairo.
Subsequent to this he took up a chair at University College London, from 1935-1938 and University of London from 1938-1942. Gaddum was professor of pharmacology at the University of Edinburgh from 1942-1958.
He was director of the Institute of Animal Physiology (later Babraham Institute) from 1958-1965. and invested by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. In experiments with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), Gaddum explained how it causes mental disturbances by blocking the stimulating effects of serotonin.
He was the first scientist to postulate that 5-HT might have a role in mood regulation.
Gaddum served in the British Army from 1940-1942, rising to Lieutenant Colonel.
Royal Society; German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.