Peter Daniel, former Professor of Neuropathology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, was first and foremost a skilled and dextrous experimenter. He was born in London on 14 November 1910 and educated at Westminster School. He went on to Cambridge and then Charing Cross Hospital. From 1948 to 1956 he was a consultant pathologist at the Radcliffe Infirmary, conducting pathology sessions in Sir Hugh Cairn's neurosurgery unit. In 1956 he was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the Institute of Psychiatry, a post he held until his retirement in 1977. His research interests were wide-ranging. He demonstrated muscle-spindles in eye muscles, and investigated single-neurone discharges from the optical cortex. He described a portal vascular system in the kidney and one between the pituitary and the hypothalamus. Many years before BSE in cattle and prions came to prominence, he studied scrapie and kuru and recognised that these diseases were transmitted by an agent not destroyed by heat. He produced a wide range of papers and books. He was a founder-member of the Royal Colleges of Pathology and Psychiatry, and was a long-term member of the Physiological Society and of many other societies. He was President of many, including the Medical Society of London. Peter received many awards, including the Prosect medal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the John Hunter medal and triennial prize of the College and the Erasmus Wilson lectureship. He was a member of the Garrick Club, where he often entertained his friends. He was married three times: firstly, to Sarah Shelford, by whom he had two sons and three daughters; secondly, to F D Bosanquet, by whom he had one son; and, finally, to M F Bosanquet. Sadly, during his last years he suffered from depression. He died in London on 19 November 1998.