Rupert Everett Billingham FRS (15 October 1921 – 16 November 2002)[1] was a British biologist who did significant research in the fields of reproductive immunology and organ transplantation.
"He made numerous fundamental contributions to our modern knowledge of the mechanisms of graft rejection and how to prevent it, and he analysed some of the mechanisms responsible for the survival of the mammalian foetus in an immunologically hostile environment".
[2] Billingham was born in Warminster, Wiltshire, the son of a dairy farmer.
They proposed that the change was due to the dissemination of a self replicating agent from normal melanocytes into non-melanin-producing cells; but this hypothesis was wrong and they later showed that pigment spread was due to cell migration.
He continued to work on transplantation with Medawar, and in 1951 they both accepted positions at the University College London.