In the early 1940s Tom Gibson, a member of an MRC unit investigating infection in burns at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, developed an interest in skin grafting. With Peter (later Sir Peter) Medawar, he described the ‘Second Set’ phenomenon which in 1943 laid the foundations for tissue transplantation. After war service (1944–47) he was the major force in the development of plastic surgery services in the West of Scotland. His researches at the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde earned him an international reputation.
References
1.
van MeekerenJJ. Heel-en Geneeskonstige Aanmerkingen.Amsterdam: Commelijn, 1668
2.
McGregorIA. Obituary of Tom Gibson. British Medical Journal1993;i:1472
3.
Interview by Andrew Hull with Mrs Jane Bryce (one of the children of Professor Tom Gibson) at the family home 8th January 2001.Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Archives RCPSG 1/13/19/3, p. 1–3
4.
The Scottish National Dictionary defines ‘dux’ as follows.‘The head pupil in a school, class, division or subject, esp. the best pupil in the top class, who thus becomes dux of the whole school.’ It is used in the sense of best pupil in the top class here. It comes from the Latin dux meaning a leader
5.
The Gold Medal was presented in memory of William Hodge Coats (1866–1928), Chairman of J & P Coats Ltd, thread manufacturers in Paisley
6.
Paisley Daily Express. 30 June 1933
7.
The Glasgow University Calendar for the Year 1933–34.Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie and Co., 1933, p. 826
8.
The Glasgow University Calendar for the Year 1938–39.Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie and Co., 1938, p. 834
9.
ConwayHHutchesonRT. The Glasgow Medical Faculty 1936–39: A change of direction. Scottish Medical Journal1996;41: 178–9
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HullA.Hector's House: Sir Hector Hetherington and the Academicization of Glasgow Hospital Medicine before the NHS. Medical History2001;45:207–42
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HullAGeyer-KordeschJ.The Shaping of the Medical Profession: The History of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow 1858–1999.London: Hambledon Press, 1999: P. 90
12.
ConwayHughDr, personal recollection
13.
Dr John Smith OBE TD, personal recollection. Dr Smith was Indoor House Surgeon in Professor Young's Unit at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow at the outbreak of World War II
14.
ConwayH.The ‘Septics’ Wards, Western Infirmary, 1940. Bulletin of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow2002;31:9
15.
GibsonT.The Second-set phenomenon as first shown in skin allografts. An historical case which also shows the behaviour of free cell collagen. British Journal of Plastic Surgery1986;39:96
16.
Medical Research Council.Studies of Burns and Scalds (Report of the Burns Unit, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow 1942–43): Special Report Series No 249 London: HMSO, 1945: P. 1
17.
DunbarJ.Review of the burns cases treated in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary during the past 100 years (1833–1933). Glasgow Medical Journal1934;122:239–55
18.
Medical Research Council (op. cit. ref. 14): P. 1
19.
Gibson (op. cit. ref. 15): P. 96
20.
Ibid.: P. 98
21.
‘Obituary of Sir Peter Medawar’. The Lancet1987;ii:923
22.
MedawarPB. Memoir of a Thinking Radish: An Autobiography.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986: P. 80
23.
Ibid.: P. 80
24.
Ibid.: P. 81
25.
GibsonTMedawarPB. The fate of skin homografts in man. Journal of Anatomy1943;77:299–310
26.
NormanJM. Morton's Medical Bibliography: An Annotated Checklist of Texts Illustrating the History of Medicine: 5th edn.Aldershot: Scolari Press, 1991: P. 406
27.
GibsonMedawar (op. cit. ref. 25): P. 307
28.
Ibid.: P. 307
29.
Gibson (op. cit. ref. 15): P. 98
30.
Medical Research Council (op. cit. ref. 16): P. 49–113
31.
Gibson (op. cit. ref. 15): P. 98
32.
ConwayHughDr, personal recollection
33.
McGregorIAWatsonR.History of the West of Scotland Plastic Surgery Unit 1940–1986. British Journal of Plastic Surgery1986;51:333
34.
Ibid.: P. 337
35.
Ibid.: P. 339
36.
Ibid.: P. 340
37.
ReidW HProfessor, personal recollection
38.
GibsonT.The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow: A Short History Based on the Portraits and other Memorabilia.Edinburgh: Macdonald, 1982: P. 248
39.
GoodallALGibsonT.Robert Watt, physician and bibliographer. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences1963;18, p. 36–50
40.
Gibson (op. cit. ref. 38): P. 287
41.
McGregorWatson (op. cit. ref. 33): P. 339
42.
Gibson (op. cit. ref. 38): P. 287
43.
Thomas Gibson List of Publications.Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Archives RCPSG 55/3/1
44.
Interview (op. cit. ref. 3): P. 33
45.
ConwayHughDr, personal recollection
46.
McGregor (op. cit. ref. 2): P. 1472
47.
Letter from Professor Peter Medawar to Mr Thomas Gibson. 27 October 1960. Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Archives RCPSG 55/1/2
