R. H. A. Plimmer

Plimmer's academic books include the monograph The Chemical Constitution of the Proteins (1908), the textbook Organic and Bio-Chemistry (1910), and the earliest food-composition tabulations relating to British foods (1921).

[2] Two years after his father's death, his mother married Henry George Plimmer, a pathologist and microbiologist who was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society,[3] and Robert Aders eventually came to use his stepfather's surname.

[6] Plimmer moved to Aberdeen in October 1919, to continue this work; there he served as head of the department of biochemistry at the Rowett Institute of Research in Animal Nutrition.

[4][9] He resigned after coming into conflict with the director, John Boyd Orr, over the question of whether the institute should focus predominantly on mineral nutrients.

[2][4] After retirement from St Thomas's, he took up a post at the department of biochemistry of the British Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, where he continued to lecture and to research in analytical clinical chemistry until shortly before his death.

[12][13] One of his highest-cited papers is a 1941 publication on the synthesis of phosphoric ester derivatives of amino acids, one of his last studies before bombing interrupted his work in London.

[15][16][17] With Frederick Gowland Hopkins, he co-edited the series Monographs in Biochemistry (from 1908), for which Plimmer wrote The Chemical Constitution of the Proteins,[4][6] described as a "veritable godsend" in a contemporary review in Nature.

[18] His other books include the textbook, Organic and Bio-Chemistry,[4][6] described by Arthur Harden as "extremely valuable" for a broader audience than just the intended medical students.

[6] In 1912, Plimmer married Violet Geraldine (née Sheffield; died 1949), a biologist, artist and illustrator whose father was a solicitor; they had three daughters and a son.

[2][4] His interests included motoring – he held one of the first driving licences, and enjoyed touring in Europe – as well as attending concerts and festivals of classical music.

[2] His memorial service took place at Hammersmith Hospital's chapel, with a tribute being given by Charles Newman, Dean of the Postgraduate Medical School.