Philip Bruce White

Philip Bruce White (29 December 1891 – 19 March 1949) was a British microbiologist. He is notable for developing a classification system for salmonella bacteria which later became known as the Kauffman-White classification.

White was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales on 29 December 1891, as the eldest of three children. His father. Philip Jacob, was a lecturer in zoology at the University College of North Wales. They lived in a house overlooking the Menai Strait where Jacob was heavily involved in setting up a biological study station on Puffin Island where his son White spent the majority of his childhood.^[2] Griffith Evans, a Welsh bacteriologist who discovered trypanosoma evansi, was also a family friend who regularly visited the family with tales of his work as a veterinary officer in British India which White later highlighted in his memoirs as being an inspiration to his future work.^[2]

He completed a bachelor's degree in zoology and botany at the University College of North Wales in 1915.^[2]

In 1926, White published a schema for classifying salmonella bacteria based on serum.^[3][4] This was later extended by the Danish microbiologist Fritz Kauffmann, the Kauffman–White classification.

White became a fellow of the Royal Society on 20 March 1941.

He died in London on 19 March 1949 at age 57. He was survived by his wife and two sons. ^[2]

• Wilson Smith (30 November 1950). "Philip Bruce White, 1891–1949". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 7 (19): 278–292. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1950.0018. ISSN 1479-571X.