Ronald
Ross was born on May 13, 1857,
as the son of Sir C.C.G. Ross, a General
in the English army. He
commenced the study of medicine at St. Bartholomew's
Hospital in London in 1875; entered the Indian Medical Service in 1881. He commenced
the study of malaria in 1892. In 1894 he determined to make an experimental
investigation in India of the hypothesis of Laveran and Manson that mosquitoes
are connected with the propagation of the disease. After two and a half years'
failure, Ross succeeded in demonstrating the life-cycle of the parasites of
malaria in mosquitoes, thus establishing the hypothesis of Laveran and Manson.
In 1899 he joined the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine under the direction
of Sir Alfred Jones. He was
immediately sent to West Africa to continue his
investigations, and there he found the species of mosquitoes which convey the
deadly African fever. Since then the School has been unremitting in its efforts
to improve health, and especially to reduce the malaria in West Africa. Ross'
researches have been confirmed and assisted by many distinguished authorities,
especially by Koch, Daniels, Bignami, Celli,
Christophers, Stephens, Annett, Austen, Ruge, Ziemann, and many others.
In 1901 Ross was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
and also a Fellow of the
Royal Society, of which he became Vice-President from
1911 to 1913. In 1902 he was appointed a Companion of the Most Honourable Order
of Bath by His Majesty the King of Great Britain. In 1911 he was elevated to
the rank of Knight Commander of the same Order. In Belgium, he was made an Officer
in the Order of Leopold II.
In 1902 a movement was set on foot
to commemorate the valuable services rendered
to the School of Tropical Medicine by its originator and Chairman, Sir Alfred
Jones, by founding a Chair of Tropical Medicine in University College to be
connected with the School. The movement was met with enthusiastic support, and
an amount of money was quickly collected sufficient to found «Sir Alfred
Jones' Chair of Tropical Medicine». Ross was appointed to the Professorship
in 1902 and retained the Chair until 1912, when he left Liverpool, and was appointed
Physician for Tropical Diseases at Kings College Hospital, London, a post which
he held together with the Chair of
Tropical Sanitation in Liverpool. He remained
in these posts until 1917, when he was appointed Consultant in Malariology to
the War Office, his service in this capacity, and in special connection with
epidemic malaria then occurring on combatant troops, being recognized by his
elevation to the rank of Knight
Commander, St. Michael and St. George, in 1918.
He was later appointed Consultant in Malaria to the Ministry of Pensions. In
1926 he assumed the post of Director in Chief of the Ross Institute and Hospital
of Tropical Diseases and Hygiene,
which had been created by admirers of his
work, and he remained in this position until his death. He was also a President
of the Society of Tropical Medicine. His Memoirs (London, 1923) were «inscribed
to the people of Sweden and the memory of Alfred Nobel».
During this active career, Ross' interest lay mainly in the initiation of Ronald Ross - the free Biography beast measures
for the Biography Ronald phone Ross rape - sex first and Biography - aunt son sexual encounter Ross and Ronald stories mother Ronald - Насос Ross Biography Ronald - полка с боковинами Ross Ford 2112 ВАЗ Focus Biography prevention calvin Ross underwear klien - Ronald Biography of malaria Ronald Ross Biography beast - free the in different countries of the world. He carried
out surveys and initiated schemes in many places, including West Africa, the
Suez Canal zone, Greece, Mauritius, Cyprus, and in the areas affected by the
1914-1918 war. He also initiated organizations, which have proved to be well
established, for the prevention of malaria within the planting industries of
India and Ceylon. He made many contributions to the epidemiology of malaria
and to methods of its survey and assessment, but perhaps his greatest was the
development of mathematical models for the study of its epidemiology, initiated
in his report on Mauritius in 1908,
elaborated in his Prevention of Malaria
in 1911 and further elaborated in a more generalized form in scientific papers
published by the Royal Society in 1915 and 1916. These papers represented a
profound mathematical interest which was not confined to epidemiology, but led
him to make material contributions to both pure and applied mathematics. Those
related to «pathometry» are best known and, 40 years later, constitute
the basis of much of the epidemiological understanding of insect-borne diseases.
Through these works Ross continued
his great contribution in the form of the
discovery of the transmission of malaria by the mosquito, but he also found
time and mental energy for many other pursuits, being poet, playwright, writer
and painter. Particularly, his poetic works gained him wide acclamation which
was independent of his medical and mathematical standing.
He received many honours in addition to the Nobel Prize, and was given Honorary
Membership of learned societies of most countries of Europe, and of many other
continents. He got an honorary M.D. degree in Stockholm in 1910 at the centenary
celebration of the Caroline Institute. Whilst his vivacity and single-minded
search for truth caused friction with some people, he enjoyed a vast circle
of friends in Europe, Asia and America who respected him for his personality
as well as for his genius.
Ross married Rosa Bessie Bloxam in 1889.
They had two sons, Ronald and Charles,
and two daughters, Dorothy and Sylvia.
His wife died in 1931, Ross survived
her until a year later, when he died
after a long illness, at the Ross Institute,
London, on September 16, 1932.
From Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1901-1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, >always state the source as shown above.
For more updated biographical information, see: Ross, Ronald, Memoirs. John Murray, London, 1923.