Hugh Cairns (surgeon)
| Hugh Cairns | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 26 June 1896 Port Pirie, South Australia |
| Died | 18 July 1952 (aged 56) Oxford |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Fields | neurosurgery |
| Known for | crash helmets |
Sir Hugh William Bell Cairns KBE, DM, FRCS (26 June 1896 – 18 July 1952) was an Australian neurosurgeon. For most of his life he lived in Britain. His concern about despatch rider injuries sparked research which led to increased use of motorcycle helmets. After one of his patients died, who happened to be Lawrence of Arabia, he studied the positive effect the use of motorbike helmets had on the reducing the severity of head injuries.
Hugh Cairns was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, but went to Adelaide for his secondary education at Adelaide High School and tertiary education at the University of Adelaide. He was awarded the 1917 South Australian Rhodes Scholarship and went to the University of Oxford to read Medicine. He was president of the Balliol Boat Club and represented Oxford as bow in the Boat Race of 1920.
Cairns worked as a neurosurgeon at the London Hospital and with Harvey Cushing at Harvard before setting up the Nuffield Department of Surgery in Oxford, in which he became the first Nuffield Professor of Surgery. He was a key figure in the development of neurosurgery as a specialty, the formation of the University of Oxford Medical School, and the treatment of head injuries during the Second World War. The Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford is named after him, as is the medical school surgical society. A blue plaque for him at his 1920s residence at Loughton has been erected.
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