Peter Medawar was a Brazilian-born British zoologist and immunologist often called the father of transplantation for the experimental work that made organ and tissue transplants scientifically and medically feasible. Working with colleagues Rupert Billingham and Leslie Brent in the early 1950s, Medawar demonstrated experimentally, in mice, that exposing an animal to foreign tissue very early in its life could make its immune system permanently treat that same donor's tissue as if it were its own later on, a state called acquired immunological tolerance that Frank Macfarlane Burnet had theoretically predicted from his clonal selection theory of immunity. This finding showed for the first time that the immune system's rejection of foreign tissue is not a fixed, unchangeable barrier but something that can, under the right conditions, be prevented, providing the essential scientific foundation for the medical practice of organ transplantation that followed in subsequent decades. Medawar shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Burnet for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. Medawar, who was born in Brazil to a Lebanese father and British mother and held British citizenship from birth, went on to direct Britain's National Institute for Medical Research and remained an influential public voice on the philosophy and practice of science for the rest of his career.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own account Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own account NationalitySourced to the subject's own account Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountDiscovery of acquired immune tolerance and work on graft rejection 1 Disputed
BirthplaceRio de Janeiro or Petropolis, Brazil 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountThe article itself gives two different reported birthplaces in the same sentence, Rio de Janeiro and Petropolis; both are recorded here rather than silently picking one. Connections
Associated With
Shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.
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1. Peter Medawar (Wikipedia)
Wikipediabirth sentence (year)
Medawar is stated as having been born on 28 February 1915 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a place his parents had taken residence, and elsewhere as having been born in Petropolis, a Brazilian Imperial City, 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Rio de Janeiro city.
birth sentence (date)
Medawar is stated as having been born on 28 February 1915 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a place his parents had taken residence, and elsewhere as having been born in Petropolis, a Brazilian Imperial City, 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Rio de Janeiro city.
birth sentence (place, disputed in source)
Medawar is stated as having been born on 28 February 1915 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a place his parents had taken residence, and elsewhere as having been born in Petropolis, a Brazilian Imperial City, 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Rio de Janeiro city.
death sentence (year)
However, he suffered further strokes, and in 1987 he died in the Royal Free Hospital, London.
death sentence (place)
However, he suffered further strokes, and in 1987 he died in the Royal Free Hospital, London.
citizenship sentence
Peter Medawar's status as a British citizen was acquired at birth, as he said, 'My birth was registered at the British Consulate in good time to acquire the status of natural-born British subject.'
achievement sentence (field)
Medawar's works on the discovery of acquired immune tolerance, and on graft rejection, have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants.
achievement sentence (notable work)
Medawar's works on the discovery of acquired immune tolerance, and on graft rejection, have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants.
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