There are many notable key figures mentioned throughout the virtual tour and within the animations. This page explains who these key figures are and how their work has impacted not just the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, QMUL, but the whole world. Their impact in their respected fields were revolutionary and continue to support research being done today. All images are courtesy of Barts Health NHS Trust Archives.
William Harvey was an English physician. He is known for being the first person to correctly describe the blood’s circulation in the body. He showed arteries and veins form a complete circuit that starts and ends at the heart and showed that blood circulates rapidly around the body.
Sir William Blizard, alongside Dr James Maddocks, sought support to build a lecture theatre at the Royal London Hospital so that both practical and theoretical teaching could happen on the same site. Because of this, he is known as the founder of the first medical college in England, the Royal London Medical College.
John Abernethy was a well-known surgeon who was instrumental in founding St Batholomew’s Medical College. He requested for the first purpose-built lecture to be built at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Here, he gave lectures on Anatomy, Physiology and Surgery.
Sir Archibald Garrd is commonly referred to as the Father of Human Genetics, proposing the idea that diseases were “inborn errors in metabolism”. He was a physician who served in several London hospitals, including St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
Sir Isacc Wolfson was the founder, chairman and president of the Wolfson Foundation. He was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Wolfson Foundation in 1955 as a way to distribute most of his fortune to good causes.
Sir Joseph Rotblat was a physician whose work on splitting the atom lead him to the conclusion that it was possible to produce an atomic bomb. He worked on the Manhattan Project until 1944, after it was clear that Germany had abandoned the development of their own bomb, when he asked to leave the project on the grounds of conscience. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 “for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms”.
Sir John Vane was a leading figure in understanding how asprin produces pain-relief and anti-inflammatory effects. His work pioneered new treatments for heart and blood vessel diseases. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982 alongside Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson for "their discoveries concerning prostagladins and related biologically active substances".
David Wingate was the founding director of the Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology between 1981 and 2000. He was a pioneer in Neurogastroenterology, with groundbreaking research which laid the foundations for this field.
Yvonna Carter became the youngest Professor of General Practice and Primary care in the UK when she became Head of Department at Barts Hospital and Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1996.