The Professor and the Student, Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962) and William Sealy Gosset (1876-1937): Careers of two giants in mathematical statistics
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher and William Sealy Gosset were responsible for laying the foundations of statistical inference. Tests that bear their names are used by students and researchers in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Similar and different in many respects, their lives and careers are the subject of this essay. They were not teacher and pupil; in fact the student was 14 years older than the professor. Their careers did not require them to interact with one another much but they were aware of one another’s work. Although Sir Ronald is assigned the role of the professor, his success as a teacher was impaire...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - May 13, 2015 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Vyas, S. A., Desai, S. P. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) and Sir John Forbes (1787-1861): Neighbours in Old Burlington Street, Westminster
The year 2010 marks the centenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale and will, no doubt, be universally remembered. Her life and nursing career have recently been fully described by Bostridge. It is less well known that her neighbour from November 1856 was the distinguished Scottish physician Sir John Forbes MD Edin FRCP Lond FRS DCL Oxon. Although they never met, they exchanged copies of each other’s books and shared a mutual respect. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - May 13, 2015 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Agnew, R. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research
Did Mozart suffer from Asperger syndrome?
The most reliable biographies of Mozart highlight elements that are compatible with current diagnostic criteria for Asperger syndrome including qualitative impairment in social interaction and stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms. Furthermore, numerous features are documented including difficulty in communicating his emotional state and in inferring the mental state of his interlocutors, motor clumsiness, specific skills and genius, left-handedness, special sense of humour, physical developmental abnormalities, bizarre thinking, overvalued ideas and delusions. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - May 13, 2015 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Raja, M. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research
Dr Charles Morehead MD (Edinburgh), FRCP (1807-1882): Pioneer in medical education
Charles Morehead studied medicine in Edinburgh and Paris. Among his teachers were George Jardine (1742–1827) (moral philosophy), Professor William Pulteney Alison (1790–1859) (medicine), Pierre Louis (1787–1872) and René Laennec (1781–1826). He joined as Assistant Surgeon in the Bombay Medical Service of the East India Company and was appointed to the staff of Governor Sir Robert Grant (1779–1838). Grant and Morehead founded the Grant Medical College and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (1811–1877) Hospital in Bombay. Morehead established standards of medical education at these institution...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - May 13, 2015 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Pandya, S. K. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research
The life and times of Francis Geach MD, FRS (1730-1798), Senior Surgeon to the Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth (1778-1798)
This article summarises Francis Geach’s genealogy, medical and academic practice, his breadth of interests and his contribution to Devonshire life in the 18th century. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - May 13, 2015 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Peters, T. J., Payne, L., Levell, N. J. Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research
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(Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Williams, I. Tags: Letter Source Type: research
Dr Walter Henry Anderson (1870-1937) and the Mission Hospital at Safed, Palestine
Walter Henry Anderson, a brewer's clerk in Burton-upon-Trent, became a missionary doctor, supported by a society promoting welfare and evangelism in Jewish communities abroad. His family background was rich in pastoral ministry at home and adventure abroad. Arguably, this background played a part in his decision to serve the Jews of Safed. His life in Palestine entailed much enterprise and hardship as he raised a family, fought disease and set up a mission hospital serving not only the Jewish community but persons of all faiths. His years in Palestine, from 1894 to 1915, were times of peace in the Middle East before the tu...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Stokes, G. S. Tags: Missionaries Source Type: research
Dr George Armstrong (1719-89) and his biographer, William Maloney MD (1882-1952)
George Armstrong has been called both the father and the patron saint of paediatrics. Between 1767 and 1783 he pioneered most of the approaches now applied in modern paediatrics and child health. He also founded in London the first children's dispensary in 1769. Yet for 150 years his remarkable achievements were overlooked until rescued from obscurity in 1954 by an Edinburgh born physician, William Maloney. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Dunn, P. M. Tags: Paediatricians Source Type: research
Rosemary Biggs MD FRCP (1912-2001) and Katharine Dormandy MD FRCP (1926-78): from laboratory to treatment and care of people with haemophilia
In 1977 the Haemophilia Society presented the first RG Macfarlane Award to Katharine Dormandy for her outstanding contribution towards the social and physical wellbeing of people with haemophilia and related disorders. In 1978 Rosemary Biggs was the second recipient of the Award given for similarly outstanding personal contributions. Dr Biggs worked under Dr RG Macfarlane at Oxford and in 1952 devised a laboratory test that identified two forms of haemophilia. Macfarlane realized the potential for replacement therapy which subsequently transformed the lives of haemophiliacs in the UK. Dr Biggs was director of the Oxford Ha...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Hawgood, B. J. Tags: Pathologists Source Type: research
Sir James Young Simpson and religion: myths and controversies
This paper analyses two key aspects of the life and work of Sir James Young Simpson: his evangelical Christianity and his reaction to criticism following his use of anaesthesia in obstetrics. Simpson's personal religious struggle is placed in the context of the devastating events surrounding the Disruption of the established Church of Scotland in 1843. Whatever his involvement in the events of that year, the development of his faith demonstrates his simple evangelical conviction in the atonement of Christ, very much in keeping with that of many believers in Victorian Britain. There has arisen the notion (still current as i...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Cameron, E. A., MacGillivray, N. Tags: Surgeons Source Type: research
Lord Lister's antiseptic steam spray
(Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Kirkup, J. Tags: Who Made What? Source Type: research
Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909): Spanish musician who died of chronic renal disease
Isaac Albéniz was a Spanish musician and pianist who was best known in France and England. One of his last works for piano, the suite Iberia, is well-known and identifies his country of origin. He died with terminal uraemia following longstanding chronic intestinal and kidney symptoms. Suggestions as to pathology include amyloidosis complicated by kidney stones and hypertension that sometimes manifested itself in the form of hypertensive crisis, accompanied by obesity. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Garcia-Nieto, V. M., Peralta-Aros, C. Tags: Patients Source Type: research
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa (1864-1901): artistic genius and medical curiosity
Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi in South West France. His parents were first cousins; this consanguineous marriage was responsible for his ugly deformities. Lautrec's life in Montmartre became the setting for much of his art and for his deliberate slow self-destruction. In addition to his artistic ability he was courageous, a natural leader, an accomplished chef, a connoisseur of fine wine, intelligent, humorous and very generous. (Source: Journal of Medical Biography)
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Leigh, F. W. Tags: Patients Source Type: research
Rheumatic fever in Ireland: the role of Dr Monica Lea Wilson (1889-1971)
In 1869 William Stokes pointed out that the severity of rheumatic fever in Dublin had declined over recent decades. Similar worldwide decline led to the closure of many internationally famous rheumatic fever centres. The discovery by Robert Collis that rheumatic fever was a sequel to haemolytic streptococcal infection and the subsequent discovery of penicillin accelerated the decline. St Gabriel's Hospital in Dublin opened in 1951 under the clinical direction of Dr Monica Lea Wilson. Contrary to contemporary medical opinion a regimen of very prolonged bed rest was enforced. From 1961 the family doctors became concerned at ...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Ward, O. C. Tags: Physicians Source Type: research
Bernard de Gordon (fl. 1270-1330): medieval physician and teacher
The Montpellier physician Bernard de Gordon flourished in the late Middle Ages in the era when university education first evolved in the training of European physicians. Fragmentary details of his life and medical influence are known from seven books, particularly his extensive (163 chapters) text Lilium Medicine and from Chaucer's reference to him in the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer lists Bernard de Gordon as one whose writings were part of the core curriculum of the best-trained European doctors of medieval Europe. Bernard de Gordon was one of that small group of medieval physicians who reverently followed Galenic lore whic...
Source: Journal of Medical Biography - April 22, 2013 Category: History of Medicine Authors: Pearn, J. Tags: Physicians Source Type: research
