Peter Medawar videos and info

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.

With Rupert Billingham, he published a seminal paper in 1951.^[1] Santa J. Ono has described the enduring impact of this paper to modern science.^[2]

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.

Achievements

Medawar's 1952 book, An Unsolved Problem of Biology, addressed the question: why has evolution permitted us to deteriorate with age, despite the facts that (1) aging lowers our individual fitness, and (2) there is no physical necessity for aging? His insight that the force of natural selection is weaker late in life (because some individuals have already perished through accident or predation) has served as the basis for all three modern theories for the evolution of aging.

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 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."^[3]

Later years

While attending the annual British Association meeting in 1969 he suffered a stroke 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.^[5]

Notes

^ Billingham, R.E.; Medawar, P.B. (1951), "The Technique of Free Skin Grafting in Mammals", Journal of Experimental Biology 28 (3): 385–402, http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/28/3/385.pdf
^ Ono, Santa Jeremy (2004), "The Birth of Transplantation Immunology: the Billingham--Medawar Experiments at Birmingham University and University College London", Journal of Experimental Biology 207 (23): 4013–4014, doi:10.1242/jeb.01293, PMID 15498946, http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/207/23/4013.pdf
^ Medawar, P.B. (1961), "Critical Notice", Mind LXX (277): 99 - 106, http://mind.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/LXX/277/99
^ "Honours and Awards, Home Office", The London Gazette (43819): 10841, 1965, http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewPDF.aspx?pdf=43819&geotype=London&gpn=10841&type=ArchivedIssuePage&all=&exact=Medawar&atleast=&similar=
^ Leslie Baruch Brent. "Jean Medawar's obituary" Independent, The (London). May 12, 2005.

References

Simpson, Elizabeth (December 2004). "Reminiscences of Sir Peter Medawar: in hope of antigen-specific transplantation tolerance". Am. J. Transplant. 4 (12): 1937–40. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2004.00687.x. PMID 15575894.
Billington, W David (October 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:10.1016/S0165-0378(03)00083-4. PMID 14568673.
Kyle, Robert A; Shampo Marc A (April 2003). "Peter Medawar--discoverer of immunologic tolerance". Mayo Clin. Proc. 78 (4): 401, 403. PMID 12683691.
Charlesworth, B (November 2000). "Fisher, Medawar, Hamilton and the evolution of aging". Genetics 156 (3): 927–31. PMID 11063673.
Raju, T N (June 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1960: Sir Frank Macfarlance Burnet (1899-1985), and Sir Peter Brian Medawar (1915-87)". Lancet 353 (9171): 2253. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)76313-3. 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:10.1016/S0041-1345(98)02092-2. PMID 10083012.
Medawar, J (1999). "Reminiscences of Peter Medawar". Transplant. Proc. 31 (1-2): 49. doi:10.1016/S0041-1345(98)02066-1. PMID 10083008.
Terasaki, P (1997). "1996 Medawar Prize Lecture". Transplant. Proc. 29 (1-2): 33–8. doi:10.1016/S0041-1345(96)00005-X. PMID 9123024.
Starzl, T E (March 1995). "Peter Brian Medawar: father of transplantation". J. Am. Coll. Surg. 180 (3): 332–6. PMID 7874344.
Brent, L (September 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 (April 1989). "Peter Medawar and clinical transplantation". Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 9–13. doi:10.1016/0165-2478(89)90004-7. PMID 2656517.
Gowans, J L (April 1989). "Peter Medawar: his life and work". Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 5–8. doi:10.1016/0165-2478(89)90003-5. PMID 2656514.
"Articles based on presentations at the Sir Peter Medawar Memorial Symposium. London, 5 December and 6th, 1988". Immunol. Lett. 21 (1): 1–99. April 1989. PMID 2656507.
Monaco, A P (February 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:10.1080/03014468800009501. PMID 3279900.
Billingham, R E (January 1988). "In memoriam. Sir Peter Medawar--February 18, 1915-October 2, 1987". Transplantation 45 (1): preceding 1. doi:10.1097/00007890-198801000-00001. PMID 3276037.
Simpson, E (January 1988). "Sir Peter Medawar 1915-1987". Immunol. Today 9 (1): 4–6. doi:10.1016/0167-5699(88)91344-8. PMID 3076758.
Melnick, M (1988). "Peter Medawar--scientific meliorist". J. Craniofac. Genet. Dev. Biol. 8 (1): 1–2. PMID 3062035.
Möller, G (December 1987). "Sir Peter Medawar, 1915-1987". Immunol. Rev. 100: 9–10. doi:10.1111/j.1600-065X.1987.tb00525.x. PMID 3326829.
Mitchison, N A (1987). "Sir Peter Medawar (1915-1987)". Nature 330 (6144): 112. doi:10.1038/330112a0. PMID 3313060.
"Peter Brian Medawar". Cell. Immunol. 62 (2): 235–42. August 1981. doi:10.1016/0008-8749(81)90319-1. PMID 7026052.
Lawrence, H (August 1981). "Advances in immunology: a meeting in honor of Sir Peter Medawar". Cell. Immunol. 62 (2): 233–310. doi:10.1016/0008-8749(81)90318-X. PMID 7026051.
Guntrip, H (September 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 (April 1975). "[Medawar and organ transplantation]". Orvosi hetilap 116 (16): 931–4. PMID 1090878.
Sulek, K (March 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". Triangle; the Sandoz journal of medical science 9 (2): 79–80. 1969. PMID 4939701.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Peter Medawar

v • d • e Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine

Max Theiler (1951) · Selman Waksman (1952) · Hans Krebs / Fritz Lipmann (1953) · John Enders / Thomas Weller / Frederick Robbins (1954) · Hugo Theorell (1955) · André Cournand / Werner Forssmann / Dickinson W. Richards (1956) · Daniel Bovet (1957) · George Beadle / Edward Tatum / Joshua Lederberg (1958) · Severo Ochoa / Arthur Kornberg (1959) · Frank Burnet / Peter Medawar (1960) · Georg von Békésy (1961) · Francis Crick / James D. Watson / Maurice Wilkins (1962) · John Eccles / Alan Hodgkin / Andrew Huxley (1963) · Konrad Bloch / Feodor Lynen (1964) · François Jacob / André Lwoff / Jacques Monod (1965) · Francis Rous / Charles B. Huggins (1966) · Ragnar Granit / Haldan Hartline / George Wald (1967) · Robert W. Holley / Har Khorana / Marshall Nirenberg (1968) · Max Delbrück / Alfred Hershey / Salvador Luria (1969) · Bernard Katz / Ulf von Euler / Julius Axelrod (1970) · Earl Sutherland, Jr. (1971) · Gerald Edelman / Rodney Porter (1972) · Karl von Frisch / Konrad Lorenz / Nikolaas Tinbergen (1973) · Albert Claude / Christian de Duve / George Palade (1974) · David Baltimore / Renato Dulbecco / Howard Temin (1975)

Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

Persondata
NAME	Medawar, Sir Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Scientist
DATE OF BIRTH	28 February 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
DATE OF DEATH	2 October 1987
PLACE OF DEATH	London, United Kingdom

Diemazz

Contents

Early years

Early research