Medavo

Peter Brian Medawar

Peter Brian Medawar (February 28, 1915 - October 2, 1987), male, Arab British, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1915. His father was a businessman from Lebanon. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to Magdalene College Affiliated to Oxford University in England, majoring in zoology.

In 1960, medava, a philosopher scientist, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his outstanding contribution to immunology. The pioneer of transplantation immunology is known as "the father of organ transplantation".

He has published "advice to young scientists" and "a thinking Radish".

Profile

Peter medava（ SirPeterB.Medawar ）He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 28, 1915 and died in London, England on October 2, 1987.

He is a British zoologist born in Brazil. He and Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1960 for their development and confirmation of the theory of acquired immune tolerance. Their models paved the way for the success of organ and tissue transplantation.

Life of the characters

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 28, 1915, the father is from Lebanon and the mother is from England;

He studied in the University of Marburg in England in 1928;

In 1932, he transferred to Maclaren college to study zoology;

In 1935, he studied biology related to medicine at Oxford University and got a bachelor's degree;

In 1938, he passed the examination and became a researcher of Maclaren college;

He was a senior research fellow of St. John's College in 1944 and a member of McLaren college in 1946;

Professor of zoology, University of Birmingham, 1947-1951;

He moved to London from 1951 to 1962 and became professor of zoology at University College London;

From 1962 to 1971, he was a director of the National Institute for medical research;

1977-1983, Professor of experimental medicine, Royal Society of England

From 1981 to 1987, he was president of the Royal Graduate School of medicine.

In 1969, medavo suffered a stroke in his speech. He said: "it's terrible bad luck, because Jim White has not yet found a beta blocker that can slow down the heart beat. If I had it at that time, I would have saved my health and my career.". Before the stroke, he was one of the most influential scientists in the UK, especially in medical biology. After that, although his speech and action were limited, with the help of his wife, he continued to write and research.

In 1987, he died of massive bleeding. He was buried in East Sussex.

Academic history

Peter medava was born in Brazil and went to England as a young boy. In 1935, he received a degree in zoology from Magdalene College, Oxford, and in 1938, he became a researcher at the college. During the Second World War, he studied tissue transplantation, especially skin grafting, in the Department of burns, Glasgow Royal Hospital, Scotland. This work made him realize that transplant rejection is an immune response. After the end of the war, medavo continued his research. He heard about the research done by Frank MacFarlane Burnet, an Australian immunologist who first developed the advanced theory of immune tolerance in the world. According to this hypothesis, during early embryonic development and shortly after birth, vertebrates develop the ability to distinguish between their own substances and those foreign substances. This idea conflicts with the idea that vertebrates inherit this ability when they are pregnant. Medava found that twin cattle can accept each other's skin transplantation, indicating that some antigen substances can leak from the yolk sac of one embryo to the yolk sac of another twin embryo, which strongly supports Burnet's view. In a series of experiments with mice, he has obtained evidence that although each animal cell contains certain genes that determine antigens that are very important for the immune process, researchers can still get immune tolerance, because the embryos injected by the operator with donor cells can receive tissues from all parts of the donor's body and the twin brother of the donor. Medava's work has led to a shift in the focus of immunology, from assuming a well-developed immune mechanism to trying to suppress the rejection of human organ transplantation by changing its own immune mechanism.

In 1935, he was appointed as a lecturer at Magdalene College and became a scholar of Christopher Welch. In 1938, he passed the examination and became a member of Magdalene College. In 1942, he was the laureate of the Rolston prize. In 1944, he became a senior researcher and teaching lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy at St. John's University. In 1946, he was elected a fellow of Magdalene College. In 1947, he was a professor of zoology at Birmingham University. In 1951, he went to University College London as a professor of zoology. He stayed here until 1962, when he was appointed director of the National Institute of medicine in London.

Medavo's early research was carried out at Oxford University, mainly including tissue culture, peripheral nerve regeneration and mathematical analysis of the shape changes of organisms in this process. At the beginning of the Second World War, he was asked by the Medical Research Council to investigate why one person's skin could not be permanently transplanted to another person. This work enabled him to establish some theories on transplantation immunity, which formed the basis of his further work. When he came to Birmingham in 1947, he continued the work and worked with R. Billingham to study pigmentation and skin transplantation in cattle, as well as the use of skin transplantation to distinguish identical and fraternal twins. In this work, they took Owen's research results into account and concluded that this phenomenon of what they called "acquisition of active tolerance" can be artificially obtained. Because of this early work on transplantation and growth, medavo was elected a senior member of the Royal Society of London. When he moved to London in 1951, medavo continued to work with R BillinghamandL.Brent It took him several years to work together on the tolerance phenomenon, which he analyzed in detail. He also conducted other studies on transplant immunity.

The Royal Society, where he was a lecturer in 1958, awarded him the Royal medal in 1959. In the same year, he was invited by the BBC to be a lecturer. He has been elected a foreign member of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

In his 1951 speech, "an unsolved problem in biology," medavo discussed why evolution allows us to age, although (1) aging reduces our individual health, and (2) there is no obvious need for aging. His view is that natural selection weakens old age (because young people's fertility is more important). He pointed out that the possibility of death in a lifetime is not a direct measure of health, that is, the ability of organisms to copy their own genes. The human life table shows that the lowest probability of female death is about 14 years old, which is about the peak age of reproduction in primitive society. This theory is the basis of three modern theories on aging development.

Family situation

In 1937, medavo married Jean shinglewood Taylor, the daughter of a Cambridge professor. They had two sons, Charles and Alexander, and two daughters, Caroline and Louise.

Religious views

He said: "I believe that a reasonable situation can be said, not that we believe in God because he exists, but that he exists because we believe in him As an element of the world, God, like other products of thought I regret that I don't believe in God and other religions, because I believe it will bring satisfaction and comfort to many people who need him. "

Get honor

He was knighted in 1965 and received the medal of honor in 1981.

Publishing works

As a scientist, medavo has a wide range of interests, including opera and philosophy. His main works include: the unique individual (1957), the future of men (1959), art solubility (1967), hope for progress (1972), Life Sciences (1977), Pluto's Republic (1982) and autobiography Memoirs (1986).

Advice to young scientists, translated by Jiang Xiaodong, Peking University Press, may 2020;

Famous sayings

Science is the art of answers. The frontier of science is a new territory between solvable and difficult to understand, known and unknown. Scientists working in this field try their best to push the solvable boundary towards the difficult one, and try their best to reveal the unknown domain.

It's just that when the curtain is open and the public sees us, we are more willing to show our attitude.

Autobiography

A radish of thought, translated by Yuan Kaiwen et al., Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 2001.

Chinese PinYin : Mei Da Wo