Background
He was the second son of Jonathan and Mahala Plowright.
university professor Veterinarian
He was the second son of Jonathan and Mahala Plowright.
He attended Moulton Grammar School which transferred to Spalding Grammar School in 1939. He graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1944 and was commissioned into the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.
Rinderpest became the first animal disease to be eliminated worldwide. As a young veterinary pathologist, Plowright carried out research in Kenya and Nigeria. Plowright used a mono-layer of kidney cells to culture the virus until it became non-virulent and could be transmitted from one cattle to another, producing lifelong immunity against rinderpest.
Unlike its predecessors, tissue culture rinderpest vaccine (TCRV) could be used safely in all types of cattle, it could be produced very economically and conferred lifelong immunity.
The research and application techniques that brought Plowright success in fighting rinderpest were later replicated by his colleagues to vaccinate against sheeppox and lumpy skin disease. In 1964, Plowright returned to the United Kingdom to oversee animal disease research there until his 1983 retirement.
He chaired the Royal Veterinary College’s microbiology and parasitology department from 1971 to 1978. He was Head of Microbiology at the Institute for Animal Health in Compton, Berkshire from 1978 to 1983.
In addition to rinderpest, Plowright also contributed to the study of such viral animal diseases as African swine fever, malignant catarrhal fever, poxviruses, and herpesviruses.
He was awarded the King Baudouin International Development Prize 1984-1985 by the Belgian monarch.
Royal Society.