Hugh Whitehead (scientist)

Hugh Robinson Whitehead (11 November  1899 – 13 March 1983) was a New Zealand biochemist, microbiologist and scientific administrator. He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, in 1899. He was the director of the Dairy Research Institute in Palmerston North, which is now the Fonterra Research and Development Centre.

Career
Between 1933 and 1935, Whitehead and his colleagues identified a bacteriophage as the cause of failure in cheese starter isolates, which had significant, positive commercial outcomes for the New Zealand dairy industry.

Awards
In the 1964 Queen's Birthday Honours, Whitehead was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.