Basil Lythgoe FRS (18 August 1913 — 18 April 2009) was a British organic chemist who investigated the structure of many natural substances including nucleosides, plant toxins, and vitamin D2.
His final degree examinations were delayed by a severe throat infection; he graduated in 1934, with first class honours.
Lythgoe stayed at Manchester to work or his PhD, supervised by Professor I W Heilbron, FRS; it was awarded in 1936.
But he soon returned to the University of Manchester as an assistant lecturer, where he worked with Alexander Todd, successor to Heibron.
Lythgoe was an early user of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which helped him determine the correct structure of taxine-I.
The engagement of Basil Lythgoe and the mathematician Kathleen (Kate) Cameron Hallum was announced in April 1946.