| |
|
|
|
| |
Winner of Physiology or Medical Science
|
|
|
|
2007-9-20
Ronald Ross, a British doctor of Tropical Diseases, proved Malaria was developed from Anopheles transmission, which had successfully laid foundation for malaria research and prevention, and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902. He was born on May 13, 1857 in Almora Nepal and died on Sept.16, 1932 in London. His father was a British officer in India and her mother was an Indian. Although he was very interested in art in the early days, he followed his father's instruction to learn medicine in St.Bartholomen Hospital, London in 1874. From 1881 to 1888, he worked in Indian Medical Mission, and during his vacation back to Britain in 1888 he went to E.E. Klein to study Bacteriology and then returned India to engage in malaria studies. He again went back to Britain in 1899 and became the lecturer of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In 1901, he was elected to Royal Society and in 1902 promoted to Professor. In 1926, Britain formed the Tropical Health Institute named after his surname and he acted as the first Director.
Earlier people considered malaria was caused by miasma, a smelly odor from the swamps wetland. In the 19th century when malaria was prevailing, the annual death toll in India amounted to millions. The tropical disease pioneer C.L.A. Laverran found the plasmodium in the malaria patients'blood in 1880; then P. Manson proposed the hypothesis that mosquito transmission induced malaria. From 1895 to 1898, Ross had conducted penetrating studies to prove Manson's hypothesis and got Manson's assistance as well. He first proved drinking the water polluted by infectious adult mosquito or young wouldn't suffer malaria. He learned to discriminate mosquito species, made them suck the blood of malaria patient and found plasmodium gametocyte and oocyst in its stomach. Furthermore, he studied the life cycle of plasmodium in birds and observed the plasmodium sporozoite in the mosquito's salivary gland. Thus it was certified that mosquito is the vector of transmission of bird malaria. The same year, G. B. Grassi from Italy described the development process of the malignant plasmodium in the mosquito body. Afterwards, a priority controversy of plasmodium studies was invoked.
Later Ross started studying malaria control measures and establishing public health programs eliminating malaria, and in 1899 released a booklet of Residents Malaria Precaution Guide in Epidemic Region, briefly stating some concrete measures to prevent mosquito bite and kill them.
Ross was very versatile; he loved literature and maths and had published playwrights, novels, fables, poetry, etc. But he was inclined to argue with others and invoked troubles. He was sincere and responsible for his work, and ever frequented many places for preventing and eliminating malaria. His major works are Malaria Investigation Report of West Africa and Prevention of Malaria. (1910)
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Organizer:
Beijing Municipal Association for Science & Technology
Undertaker: Beijing Science & Technology
Consulting Center,
Information Center of Beijing Municipal Association for
Science & Technology |
|
|
|
