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Scottish surgeon Robert Liston worked in an era when anesthesia wasn’t invented. He could complete amputations within minutes, thus saving the lives of many when the speed of the surgery made the difference between life and death. Later, he became the first European surgeon to operate under anesthesia.
John Hunter was a Scottish surgeon remembered for his efforts to study the human anatomy through investigation and experimentation. An early advocate of scientific method in medicine, Hunter was considered one of the most prominent surgeons of his generation. He is also remembered for paying for the body of Charles Byrne and displaying the skeletal remains in his Hunterian Museum.
James Lind revolutionized medical science by recommending lemon juice and citrus fruits as remedies for scurvy in British Navy officials. Though born into a Scottish merchant family, he ended up becoming a successful naval surgeon. His research also included the prevention of typhus among seamen.
Best known for his picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Scottish novelist Tobias Smollett was born into a family of lawyers and soldiers and initially attended medical training. Some believe he quit university without a degree, while it is also said he had served as a navy surgeon.
Charles Bell was a Scottish surgeon, physiologist, anatomist, and neurologist. He was also an artist and philosophical theologian. He discovered the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in the spinal cord. He is also known for describing Bell's palsy. He played a key role in the creation of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School.
While he gained fame as a playwright under the pseudonym James Bridie, Osborne Henry Mavor was also a qualified physician who had served in both the World Wars. Interestingly, he wrote his first play, The Sunlight Sonata, using another pseudonym, Mary Henderson. He also co-established the Citizens’ Theatre.
Apart from being a naval surgeon, John Richardson also made a named for himself as an explorer of the Canadian Arctic coast. He was also a talented author of natural history. His accurate surveys eventually got him knighted. Various species of reptiles and mammals have been named in his honor.
The son of surgeon John Munro, Alexander Monro followed in his father’s footsteps and became a leading surgeon and anatomist of his day. He, his son, and then his grandson held the Edinburgh University Chair of Anatomy for a collective 126 years. He was also named a Fellow of The Royal Society.
Alexander Monro was a Scottish physician, anatomist, and medical educator. Born into the famous Monro of Auchenbowie family, Alexander is best remembered for his work describing the lymphatic system. He spent most of his life as a lecturer and is credited with teaching several future physicians, including abolitionist and naval physician Thomas Trotter.
Watson Cheyne was a Scottish bacteriologist and surgeon best remembered for pioneering the implementation of antiseptic surgical methods in the UK. Cheyne is also known for his association with King's College Hospital, where he served as a surgeon from 1880 to 1917. From 1900 to 1901, he served as a consulting surgeon during the Boer War in South Africa.
