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Dr. Davidson Nicol Biography

 

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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

Year in Review 1994: obituary

ABIOSEH NICOL), Sierra Leonean diplomat and writer (b. Sept. 14, 1924, Freetown, Sierra Leone--d.. Sept. 20, 1994, Cambridge, England), enjoyed a varied career as a medical researcher, physician, academic, diplomat, and writer. After attending the University of London, where he studied medicine, Nicol earned a B.A. (1947) in natural science and doctorates in medicine and biochemistry from Christ's College, Cambridge. There he conducted research on the chemical structure of insulin in the human body and he wrote and lectured widely on medical and scientific topics. In 1957 Nicol became a fellow of Christ's College, the first black African to achieve this distinction. Nicol returned to Sierra Leone in 1958 as a senior pathologist, but in 1960 he was appointed principal of the Fourah Bay College in Freetown, a position he held for eight years. He began a distinguished diplomatic career in 1969, when he was appointed Sierra Leone's ambassador to the UN. In 1970 he became president of the UN Security Council, and he served (1972-82) as executive director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. From 1983 to 1987 he was president of the World Federation of UN Associations. Nicol, writing under the pen name Abioseh  Nicol, won the 1952 Margaret
Wrong Prize and Medal for Literature in Africa. His works include Two African Tales (1965) , and The Truly Married Woman, and Other Stories (1965). He edited Paths to Peace: The UN Security Council and Its Presidency (1981) and co-edited Creative Women in Changing  Societies: A Quest for Alternatives (1982).


Dr. Davidson Nicol was born Sept. 14, 1924 in Freetown, Sierra Leone in Bathurst Village.
His full name was Davidson Sylvester Hector Willoughby Nicol. 
He was educated at  St. Cyprian School, Port Harcourt 1930 - 31,
Government Model School 1932-35,
Prince of Wales School 1935-42,
Christ's College Cambridge 1943-52. 
 


Following is a list of his advanced schooling and accomplishments:

1. Ibadan University Medical College Nigeria 1952-54

2. Cambridge University Fellow and Supervisor 1954-58

3. Senior Pathologist Sierra Leone Medical Services 1958-60

4. Principal Fourah Bay College 1960-67

5. Chairman, West African Examinations Council 1964-68

6. Director Consolidated African Selection Trust Ltd., London

7. Vice Chancellor University of Sierra Leone 1966-68

8. President Sierra Leone National Red Cross Society 1963-65

9. Chairman Sierra Leone National Library Board 1963-65

10. Director Central Bank of Sierra Leone 1963-68

11. Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to U.N. 1969-71

12. United Nations Security Council 1970-71 (President 1970)

13. Chairman Special Committee on Decolonization 1970-71

14. Fellow (Hon.) Christ's College, Cambridge 1972

15. High Commissioner to U.K. & Ambassador to Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway 1971-72

16. Under Secretary-General U.N. & Executive Director UNITAR 1972-82

17. President, World Federation of U.N. Associations 1983-87

18. Professor of International Studies, University of South Carolina 1991-93

Dr. Nicol died Tuesday, September 20, 1994 in Cambridge, England



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