Frederick Robert Whatley FRS (26 January 1924 – 14 November 2020) was an English botanist and biochemist who held the title of Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford from 1971 to 1991.

[1] In 1954, Whatley, Mary Belle Allen and Daniel Israel Arnon discovered photophosphorylation in vitro.

Whatley was born on 26 January 1924,[2] and educated at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Whatley completed his BA and doctoral studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge, submitting a thesis titled "Enzyme Systems in the Green Leaf" in 1948.

[3] While no explicit mention of a supervisor was made, Dr R. Hill is thanked for his "helpful advice and criticism during the course of the work".

[4][5] Noted for research in photosynthesis, his early career involved the methaemoglobin reducing factor, later known as ferredoxin.