Richard Doll
| Sir Richard Doll | |
|---|---|
Richard Doll in 2002
|
|
| Born |
28 October 1912 Hampton, London, England |
| Died | 24 July 2005 (aged 92) Oxford, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields |
physiology epidemiology |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Known for | Epidemiology of smoking Armitage–Doll model |
| Influenced |
Richard Peto Julian Peto |
| Notable awards |
Gairdner Foundation International Award (1970) Buchanan Medal (1972) Charles S. Mott Prize (1979) Royal Medal (1986) Prince Mahidol Award (1992) Shaw Prize(2004) King Faisal International Prize(2005) |
Sir William Richard Shaboe Doll CH OBE FRS (28 October 1912 – 24 July 2005) was a British physiologist who became a epidemiologist in the 20th century, turning the subject into a rigorous science. He was a pioneer in research linking smoking to health problems. With Ernst Wynder, Bradford Hill and Evarts Graham, he was credited with being the first to prove that smoking caused lung cancer and increased the risk of heart disease. (German studies had suggested a link as early as the 1920s but were forgotten or ignored until the 1990s.) He also carried out pioneering work on the relationship between radiation and leukemia as well as that between asbestos and lung cancer, and alcohol and breast cancer. On 28 June 2012 he was the subject of a series on Radio Four called The New Elizabethans, a programme broadcast to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, dealing with 60 public figures from her reign.
Doll was born at Hampton into an affluent family, though his father's work as a doctor was cut short by multiple sclerosis. Educated first at Westminster School, Doll originally then intended (against the wishes of his parents that he become a doctor like his father) to study mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. Doll claimed to have failed the mathematics scholarship from the effects of drinking 3 pints of the College's 8% alcohol own-brewed beer the night before. He subsequently chose to study medicine at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, King's College London from where he graduated in 1937. Doll was a socialist, and one of the significant figures in the Socialist Medical Association whose campaign helped lead to the creation of Britain's postwar National Health Service. He joined the Royal College of Physicians after the outbreak of World War II and served for much of the war as a part of the Royal Army Medical Corps on a hospital ship as a medical specialist.
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