Robert Knowles (parasitologist)

Knowles was the director of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine from 1933 to 1935; in the directorship his predecessor was Hugh William Acton and his successor was Sir Ram Nath Chopra.

[citation needed] Giuseppe Franchini published in 1927 what is generally believed to be the first description of the Plasmodium species now known as P. knowlesi.

At the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, in 1931 H. G. M. Campbell detected P. knowlesi in a macaque imported from Singapore.

Campbell showed his discovery to his supervisor L. Everard Napier, who injected the strain into three monkeys, one of which developed symptoms of malaria.

Das Gupta maintained the Plasmodium species by serial passage in monkeys until Knowles returned from leave.