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April 2000
Volume 64 |
Number 4
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WHAT'S NEW IN ...
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| Laureates of the
History of Anesthesia, 2000 |
Nicholas M. Greene, M.D., Chair
Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology Laureate Committee
In 1992, the Wood Library-Museum (WLM) Board of Trustees voted
to establish an international Laureate of the History of Anesthesia
program to promote the importance of understanding the heritage
of anesthesia and to honor an outstanding contributor to this
heritage every four years. The first Laureate of the History of
Anesthesia, in 1996, was Gwenifer Wilson, M.D., of Sydney, Australia.
In 2000, the WLM Laureate Committee faced a tie in voting so irreconcilable
as to necessitate the naming of two equally meritorious candidates
as Laureates: the late Norman A. Bergman, M.D., of the United
States, and Thomas B. Boulton, M.D., of Great Britain.
Norman A. Bergman, B.A., M.D., F.R.C.A.
Born in 1926 in Seattle, Washington, Dr. Bergman received his
B.A. degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 1949 and
his M.D. from the University of Oregon in 1951. After residency
in anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York
City (1951-54), he started working his way up the academic ladder
at Columbia University (1954-58), at the University of Utah (1958-70)
and finally became Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology
(197089). His research interest throughout these two decades
included many appointments as visiting research associate in Great
Britain in research centers such as Northwick Park, the Royal
College of Surgeons of England and Hammer-Smith Hospital and Post-graduate
Medical School, as well as at the Karolinska Sjukhuset in Stockholm.
His research experiences in the physiology of respiration at
these institutions, when added to similar research in pulmonary
physiology at his own department in Portand, soon made him internationally
recognized and respected as an expert in this area of physiology.
His experiences in England also formed the foundation for work
that came to make his name famous -- the publication of his magnum
opus: Genesis of Surgical Anesthesia, a masterful and definitive
review of foundations upon which anesthesia was based before the
introduction of ether anesthesia in 1846.
Lamentably, Dr. Bergman died after his election as Laureate
in 1999 and before October 2000 when his investiture as Laureate
is to take place. His investiture however, will still be held
in October 2000, at the ASA Annual Meeting. The presentation of
his Laureate medal, Laureate scroll and honorarium will be made
to his family.
Thomas B. Boulton, O.B.E., T.D., M.A., M.B., B.Chir., F.R.C.A.,
F.D.S.R.C.S., D.A.
Dr. Boulton was born in 1925 in County Durham, England. He graduated
from Cambridge University and from St. Bartholomew's Hospital
Medical College before embarking on a career that has made him
one of the most eminent anaesthetists in the United Kingdom. He
is past president of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great
Britain and Ireland and a former editor of Anaesthesia.
He also led other anesthesia-related organizations and is a prolific
author and a much sought-after lecturer.
Dr. Boulton's historical contributions are legion. He has been
the editor of the "Classical Files," a prominent feature of the
Survey of Anesthesiology, since 1983. He advocated and
helped found the History of Anaesthesia Society in the United
Kingdom and subsequently became its president in 1988. For many
years, he was the Hon. Archivist of the Association of Anaesthetists
of Great Britain and Ireland. Known for his historical scholarship,
Dr. Boulton chaired the Second International Symposium for the
History of Anaesthesia in London in 1987 and was co-editor of
its proceedings, The History of Anaesthesia, published
in 1988 by the Royal Society of Medicine. He delivered the Lewis
H. Wright Memorial Lecture of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
in 1990. Dr. Boulton considers his 1999 book, The Association
of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, 1932-1992, and
the Development of the Specialty of Anaesthesia, the most
important singular contribution to the history of anesthesia he
has ever made.
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