Peter Medawar
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Sir Peter Medawar | |
Born | February 28, 1915 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
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Died | October 2, 1987 (aged 72) London, United Kingdom |
Notable awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1960) |
Sir Peter Brian Medawar, OM, FRS, (February 28, 1915 – October 2, 1987) was a Brazilian-born Lebanese-British scientist best known for his work on how the immune system rejects or accepts tissue transplants. He was co-winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet.
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[edit] Early years
Medawar was born on February 28, 1915, in Rio de Janeiro of a British mother and a Lebanese father.
[edit] Early research
His involvement with what became transplant research began during WWII, when he investigated possible improvements in skin grafts. It became focused in 1949, when Burnet advanced the hypothesis that during embryonic life and immediately after birth, cells gradually acquire the ability to distinguish between their own tissue substances on the one hand and unwanted cells and foreign material on the other.
[edit] Outcome of research
Medawar was awarded his Nobel Prize in 1960 with Burnet for their work in tissue grafting which is the basis of organ transplants, and their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. This work was used in dealing with skin grafts required after burns. Medawar's work resulted in a shift of emphasis in the science of immunology from one that attempts to deal with the fully developed immunity mechanism to one that attempts to alter the immunity mechanism itself, as in the attempt to suppress the body's rejection of organ transplants.
[edit] Achievements
Medawar was professor of zoology at the University of Birmingham (1947-51) and University College London (1951-62). In 1962 he was appointed director of the National Institute for Medical Research, and became professor of experimental medicine at the Royal Institution (1977-83), and president of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (1981-87). Medawar was a scientist of great inventiveness who was interested in many other subjects including opera, philosophy and cricket.
In addition to his accomplishments as a scientist, he also wrote on the practice and philosophy of science. His books include Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought, The Art of the Soluble, a book of essays, some later reprinted in Pluto's Republic, Advice to a Young Scientist, Aristotle to Zoos (with his wife Jean Shinglewood Taylor), The Life Science, The Limits of Science and his last, in 1986, Memoirs of a Thinking Radish, a brief autobiography. One of his best-known writings is his 1961 demolition (in a review for the journal Mind (Vol. 70, No. 277, 99-106)) of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man, of which he said: "its author can be excused of dishonesty only on the grounds that before deceiving others he has taken great pains to deceive himself."
He was knighted in 1965 and awarded the Order of Merit in 1981. While attending the annual British Association meeting in 1969 he suffered a stroke (brain haemorrhage) whilst reading the lesson at Exeter Cathedral. It could be argued that Medawar’s failing health had repercussions for medical science as well as for relations between the scientific community and government. Prior to his failing health, Medawar was considered by many to be one of the United Kingdom’s most influential scientists, particularly in the medico-biological field.
After the impairment of his speech and movement Medawar, with his wife's help, reorganised his life and continued to write and do research though on a greatly restricted scale. However, more haemorrhages followed and in 1987 Medawar died. He is buried - as is his wife Jean (1913-2005) - at Alfriston in East Sussex.[1]Jean Medawar's obituary, by Leslie Baruch Brent. Independent, The (London). May 12, 2005.</ref>
[edit] References
- ^ An analysis of his seminal work can be found in Santa J Ono's comments on his seminal paper on heterotransplants (see ref below).
- Simpson, Elizabeth (Dec 2004). "Reminiscences of Sir Peter Medawar: in hope of antigen-specific transplantation tolerance". Am. J. Transplant. 4 (12): 1937–40. doi: . PMID 15575894.
- Ono, Santa Jeremy (Nov 2004). "The birth of transplantation immunology: the Billingham-Medawar experiments at Birmingham University and University College London. 1951". J. Exp. Biol. 207 (Pt 23): 4013–4. doi: . PMID 15498946.
- Billington, W David (Oct 2003). "The immunological problem of pregnancy: 50 years with the hope of progress. A tribute to Peter Medawar". J. Reprod. Immunol. 60 (1): 1–11. doi: . PMID 14568673.
- Kyle, Robert A; Shampo Marc A (Apr 2003). "Peter Medawar--discoverer of immunologic tolerance". Mayo Clin. Proc. 78 (4): 401, 403. PMID 12683691.
- Charlesworth, B (Nov 2000). "Fisher, Medawar, Hamilton and the evolution of aging". Genetics 156 (3): 927–31. PMID 11063673.
- Raju, T N (Jun 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1960: Sir Frank Macfarlance Burnet (1899-1985), and Sir Peter Brian Medawar (1915-87)". Lancet 353 (9171): 2253. doi: . PMID 10393027.
- Rapaport, F T (1999). "Medawar Prize Lecture, 15 July 1998. The contribution of human subjects to experimental transplantation: the HLA story". Transplant. Proc. 31 (1-2): 60–6. doi: . PMID 10083012.
- Medawar, J (1999). "Reminiscences of Peter Medawar". Transplant. Proc. 31 (1-2): 49. doi: . PMID 10083008.
- Terasaki, P (1997). "1996 Medawar Prize Lecture". Transplant. Proc. 29 (1-2): 33–8. doi: . PMID 9123024.
- Starzl, T E (Mar 1995). "Peter Brian Medawar: father of transplantation". J. Am. Coll. Surg. 180 (3): 332–6. PMID 7874344.
- Brent, L (Sep 1992). "Sir Peter Brian Medawar (28 February 1915-2 October 1987)". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 136 (3): 439–41. PMID 11623082.
- Mitchison, N A (1990). "Peter Brian Medawar: 28 February 1915-2 October 1987". Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society. Royal Society (Great Britain) 35: 283–301. PMID 11622280.
- Hamilton, D (Apr 1989). "Peter Medawar and clinical transplantation". Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 9–13. doi: . PMID 2656517.
- Gowans, J L (Apr 1989). "Peter Medawar: his life and work". Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 5–8. doi: . PMID 2656514.
- "Articles based on presentations at the Sir Peter Medawar Memorial Symposium. London, December 5th and 6th, 1988" (Apr 1989). Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 1–99. PMID 2656507.
- Monaco, A P (Feb 1989). "The legacy of Sir Peter Medawar". Transplant. Proc. 21 (1 Pt 1): 1–4. PMID 2650059.
- Tanner, J (1988). "Sir Peter Medawar 1915-1987". Ann. Hum. Biol. 15 (1): 89. doi: . PMID 3279900.
- Billingham, R E (Jan 1988). "In memoriam. Sir Peter Medawar--February 18, 1915-October 2, 1987". Transplantation 45 (1): preceding 1. doi: . PMID 3276037.
- Simpson, E (Jan 1988). "Sir Peter Medawar 1915-1987". Immunol. Today 9 (1): 4–6. doi: . PMID 3076758.
- Melnick, M (1988). "Peter Medawar--scientific meliorist". J. Craniofac. Genet. Dev. Biol. 8 (1): 1–2. PMID 3062035.
- Möller, G (Dec 1987). "Sir Peter Medawar, 1915-1987". Immunol. Rev. 100: 9–10. doi: . PMID 3326829.
- Mitchison, N A (1987). "Sir Peter Medawar (1915-1987)". Nature 330 (6144): 112. doi: . PMID 3313060.
- "Peter Brian Medawar" (Aug 1981). Cell. Immunol. 62 (2): 235–42. doi: . PMID 7026052.
- Lawrence, H (Aug 1981). "Advances in immunology: a meeting in honor of Sir Peter Medawar". Cell. Immunol. 62 (2): 233–310. doi: . PMID 7026051.
- Guntrip, H (Sep 1978). "Psychoanalysis and some scientific and philosophical critics: (Dr Eliot Slater, Sir Peter Medawar and Sir Karl Popper)". The British journal of medical psychology 51 (3): 207–24. PMID 356870.
- Kenéz, J (Apr 1975). "[Medawar and organ transplantation]". Orvosi hetilap 116 (16): 931–4. PMID 1090878.
- Sulek, K (Mar 1969). "[Nobel prize for F. M. Burnett and P. B. Medawar in 1960 for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance]". Wiad. Lek. 22 (5): 505–6. PMID 4892417.
- "Sir Peter Brian Medawar" (1969). Triangle; the Sandoz journal of medical science 9 (2): 79–80. PMID 4939701.
[edit] External links
- Biography from Sci-Quest Journal
- Magdalen College Oxford, biography of Peter Medawar
- Biography on Nobel Prize website
Persondata | |
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NAME | Medawar, Sir Peter |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Scientist |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 28, 1915 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
DATE OF DEATH | October 2, 1987 |
PLACE OF DEATH | London, United Kingdom |