Health & Medicine Nobel Prize Laureate
During World War I, Laurence Myers, Bethany 1908, was ordered to give injections of typhoid vaccine to 500 men. Learning the size of the dose, he refused. The next officer ordered to administer the vaccine From medical research to first aid inventions, the contributions from Beta men followed the orders, to the medical world have helped advance modern day health and medicine. and within 12 hours, 87 of the men died.
Most Betas know that the portable defibrillator was invented by Dr. Hugh E. Stephenson, Missouri ’43. But you likely didn’t know . . .
The joint winner of a 1934 Nobel Prize (Beta’s first of three) for his contribution to the cure for pernicious anemia, George Whipple, Yale 1900, was dean of Earle Dickson, Yale 1913: An employee of Johnson & Johnson, Dickson develthe University of Rochester School of Medicine for 32 years. oped a home-made solution to help his wife Josephine bandage her own cuts
and burns that she frequently received while cooking. Passing his idea on to his employer in 1920, Dickson went on to produce and market his invention as the Band-Aid, and before his retirement in 1957, rose to become Johnson & Johnson’s vice president.
Jonathan Letterman, Washington & Jeferson 1845: Known as the “Father of Battlefield Medicine” while an army doctor in the Civil War, Letterman is credited as the originator of the modern methods for medical organization in armies and on the battlefield. His system enabled thousands of wounded soldiers to be DNA Repair treated during the Civil War. (Fun fact: In 1852, his brother, William, co-foundA Canadian geneticist and ed Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Washington & Jefferson.) biophysicist best known for his study of DNA repair and mutagenesis, Robert Haynes, Western Ontario ’53, also helped invent the term “ecopoiesis” which is widely used in the field of space exploration.
Refused Orders
Loyal Davis, Knox 1916: A famous brain surgeon, neurologist and president of the American College of Surgeons (1962-63), Davis’ research with the brains of animals established a safe method of treatment for brain tumors by directly implanting radium into the brain. (Fun fact: Davis was the father of First Lady Nancy Reagan.) T h e B eta T h e ta Pi | 3 0 | Sum m e r 2 0 1 5