Michael Swann

Michael Swann

Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann, FRS (1920– 22 September 1990) was a distinguished molecular and cell biologist working on the mechanisms of cell division and fertilisation. He used cell polarisation methods to understand the changes in molecular organisation of the mitotic spindle. With his collaborator Murdoch Mitchison, he found evidence in support of a new theory of cell division. He also collaborated with Victor Rothschild in experiments on changes in membrane structure during fertilisation. The Michael Swann Building at the University of Edinburgh is named after him, where work on cell division and fertilisation continues to this day.

From 1965 to 1974, he was the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh University where he encountered difficulty with students led by Gordon Brown who had unusually been elected as Rector of the University.

He was chairman of the BBC from 1973 to 1980 having been appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, who admired his strong leadership during student protests at Edinburgh University. He was created a life peer in 1981 as Baron Swann, of Coln St Denys in the County of Gloucestershire on 16 February 1981. In 1980 Swann became Provost of Oriel College, and was also Chancellor of the University of York from 1979 until his death.

A portrait of Michael Meredith Swann, 1977 by Bernard Lee ('Bern') Schwartz can be found in the National Portrait Gallery.