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Cedric Hassall

New Zealand chemist

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ5057104 ↗
Source-derived summary

Cedric Herbert Hassall (6 December 1919 – 5 September 2017) was a New Zealand chemist.

Life

Born in Auckland on 6 December 1919, Hassall was educated at Auckland Grammar School. He then studied at Auckland University College, graduating Master of Science in 1942, and took a course at Auckland Teachers' Training College. Hassall was married to Elisabeth, and had two children Peter and Maureen. Professor Hassall died on 5 September 2017.

Career

Academic

After lecturing in chemistry at the University of Otago from 1942 to 1945, Hassall completed a PhD in chemistry at the University of Cambridge. In 1948 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of the West Indies. During his tenure, he emphasized research with local significance, studying natural products from local plants. One of his notable collaborations was with Jamaican research student Kenneth Magnus, which led to the discovery of the antibiotic Monamycin (which was named after the Mona Campus). This discovery was significant and contributed to the development of the drugs widely used in the treatment of hypertension.

Editorial summary

“Cedric Hassall” enters the record as new Zealand chemist. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Cedric, Hassall and Zealand can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1919, 2017, 1942, 1945—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1919-12-06, 1919—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Cedric, Hassall and Zealand.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Cedric Hassall” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Cedric, Hassall and Zealand provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5057104. VIAF identifies the subject as 101113911. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919, 2017, 1942 and 1945.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Cedric Hassall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.