 There was an explosion of activity in this field after 1945, including prominent work by Edgar Charles Bate-Smith and Tony Swain at Cambridge University.In 1966, Edwin Haslam proposed a first comprehensive definition of plant polyphenols based on the earlier proposals of Bate-Smith, Swain and Theodore White, which includes specific structural characteristics common to all phenolics having a tanning property.It is referred to as the White–Bate-Smith–Swain–Haslam (WBSSH) definition.