Ronald Ross 240174 226138220 2008-07-17T00:06:02Z 76.64.157.230 /* Discovery */ ''For the [[shinty]] player, see [[Ronald Ross (shinty player)]]; for the politician, see [[Ronald Deane Ross]].'' {{Infobox_Scientist | name = Ronald Ross | image = Ronald_Ross.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1857|5|13|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Almora]], [[India]] | death_date = 16 September, [[1932]] | death_place = [[London]], [[England]] | residence = | nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] | field = [[Medicine]] | work_institutions = | alma_mater = St. Bartholomew's Hospital | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = [[Malaria]] discovery. | prizes = [[Image:Nobel medal dsc06171.jpg|20px]] [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], [[1902]] | religion = Christian | footnotes = }} Sir '''Ronald Ross''' [[KCB]], ([[13 May]] [[1857]] – [[16 September]] [[1932]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[physician]]. He was awarded the [[Nobel prize]] for Physiology or Medicine in 1902 for discovering the life cycle of the malarial parasite ''[[Plasmodium]]'' ==Early life== Ronald Ross was born in [[Almora]], [[India]]. He was the eldest son of General Sir [[Campbell Claye Grant Ross]] of the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] and Matilda Charlotte Elderton. His grandfather was Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Ross. At the age of ten, Ross was sent to England for his education. After completing his early education in two small schools at Ryde, he was sent to a boarding school at Springhill, near [[Southampton]] in 1869. Ross commenced his study of medicine at [[St. Bartholomew's Hospital]] in [[London]] on October 29, 1875. He passed his final examination in 1880 and qualified as [[Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons|MRCS]] and [[Worshipful Society of Apothecaries|LSA]]. He joined the [[Indian Medical Service]] in 1881. His first posting was in [[Madras]]. ==Discovery== Ross studied malaria between 1881 and 1899. He worked on malaria in [[Calcutta]] at the [[Presidency General Hospital]]. In [[1883]], Ross was posted as the Acting Garrison Surgeon at [[Bangalore]] during which time he noticed the possibility of controlling mosquitoes by controlling their access to water. In 1897, Ross was posted in [[Ootacamund|Ooty]] and fell ill with malaria. After this he was transferred to [[Secunderabad]], he discovered the presence of the malarial parasite within a specific species of mosquito, the [[Anopheles]]. He initially called them ''dapple-wings'' and following the hypothesis of Sir [[Patrick Manson]] that the agent that causes malaria was spread by the mosquito, he was able to find the malaria parasite in a mosquito that he artificially fed on a malaria patient named Hussain Khan. Later using birds that were sick with malaria, he was soon able to ascertain the entire life cycle of the [[Plasmodium|malarial parasite]], including its presence in the mosquito's salivary glands. He demonstrated that malaria is transmitted from infected birds to healthy ones by the bite of a mosquito, a finding that suggested the disease's mode of transmission to humans. In [[1902]], Ross was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for his remarkable work on [[malaria]]. In [[1899]], Ross went back to Britain and joined [[Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine]] as a professor of [[tropical medicine]]. In 1901 Ross was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of England|Royal College of Surgeons]] 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 [[King Edward VII]]. In [[1911]] he was elevated to the rank of Knight Commander of the same Order. During his active career Ross advocated the task of prevention of [[malaria]] in different countries. 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 [[First World 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. 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. ==Recognition== Sir Ronald Ross 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]] and his 1923 autobiography ''Memoirs, Etc.'' was awarded that year's [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]]. 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 the [[United States]] 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 [[London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine|Ross Institute]], London, in 1932. In [[India]] Sir Ronald Ross is remembered with great respect. Because of his relentless work on malaria, the deadly epidemic which used to claim thousands of lives every year could be successfully controlled. There are roads named after him in many Indian towns and cities. In [[Calcutta]] the road linking [[Presidency General Hospital]] with Kidderpore Road has been renamed after him as Sir Ronald Ross Sarani. Earlier this road was known as Hospital Road. In Hyderabad, the famous Quarantine (Koranti) hospital is named as Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases in recognition to his services in the field of tropical diseases. == See also == * [[Paul de Kruif]] ==References== * {{1911}} * ''The Calcutta Chromosome'' by [[Amitav Ghosh]] *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:16636993 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16636993 |last=Capanna |first=Ernesto |publication-date=2006 Mar |year=[[2006]] |title=Grassi versus Ross: who solved the riddle of malaria? |volume=9 |issue=1 |periodical=Int. Microbiol. |pages=69-74 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:15182017 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15182017 |last=Guillemin |first=Jeanne |publication-date=2002 Oct |year=[[2002]] |title=Choosing scientific patrimony: Sir Ronald Ross, Alphonse Laveran, and the mosquito-vector hypothesis for malaria. |volume=57 |issue=4 |periodical=Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences |pages=385-409 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:11060174 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11060174 |last=Cook |first=G C |last2=Webb |first2=A J |publication-date=2000 Nov |year=[[2000]] |title=Perceptions of malaria transmission before Ross' discovery in 1897. |volume=76 |issue=901 |periodical=Postgraduate medical journal |pages=738-40 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:10697833 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10697833 |last=Bynum |first=W F |publication-date=1999 Sep |year=[[1999]] |title=Ronald Ross and the malaria-mosquito cycle. |volume=41 |issue=1-3 |periodical=Parassitologia |pages=49-52 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:10372849 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10372849 |last=Rajakumar |first=K |last2=Weisse |first2=M |publication-date=1999 Jun |year=[[1999]] |title=Centennial year of Ronald Ross' epic discovery of malaria transmission: an essay and tribute. |volume=92 |issue=6 |periodical=South. Med. J. |pages=567-71 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:10216850 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10216850 |last=Martin |first=N |publication-date=1999 Feb |year=[[1999]] |title=Surgeon-Major Ronald Ross, IMS Nobel laureate in medicine (1902) for his work on malaria. |volume=145 |issue=1 |periodical=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps |pages=40-1 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:9989333 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9989333 |last=Janssens |first=P G |publication-date=1998 |year=[[1998]] |title=[Ronald Ross: a century of the transfer of malaria by mosquitoes] |volume=60 |issue=5 |periodical=Verh. K. Acad. Geneeskd. Belg. |pages=387-440 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:7929680 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7929680 |last=Bendiner |first=E |publication-date=1994 Oct 15 |year=[[1994]] |title=Ronald Ross and the mystery of malaria. |volume=29 |issue=10 |periodical=Hosp. Pract. (Off. Ed.) |pages=95-7, 102, 105 passim }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:7916371 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7916371 |last=Cook |first=G C |publication-date=1994 May |year=[[1994]] |title=Manson's demonstration of the malaria parasite 100 years ago: the major stimulus for Ross' discovery? |volume=28 |issue=3 |periodical=J. Infect. |pages=333-4 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:1566144 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1566144 |last=Bloch |first=H |publication-date=1992 Apr |year=[[1992]] |title=Sir Ronald Ross, FRS, KCMG, KGB, and the conquest of malaria. |volume=85 |issue=4 |periodical=South. Med. J. |pages=407-10 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:1681486 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1681486 |last=Nye |first=E R |publication-date=1991 Sep 11 |year=[[1991]] |title=Ronald Ross: discoverer of the role of the mosquito in the transmission of malaria. |volume=104 |issue=919 |periodical=N. Z. Med. J. |pages=386-7 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:3287057 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3287057 |last=Chernin |first=E |publication-date=1988 Apr |year=[[1988]] |title=Sir Ronald Ross, malaria, and the rewards of research. |volume=32 |issue=2 |periodical=Medical history |pages=119-41 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:396986 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/396986 |last=Metcalf |first=C D |publication-date=1979 Nov |year=[[1979]] |title=CAPS jottings on malaria. 4. Ronald Ross. |volume=25 |issue=11 |periodical=The Central African journal of medicine |pages=253-60 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:333967 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/333967 |last=Bruce-Chwatt |first=L J |publication-date=1977 Sep |year=[[1977]] |title=Ronald Ross, William Gorgas, and malaria eradication. |volume=26 |issue=5 Pt 2 Suppl |periodical=Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. |pages=1071-9 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4580853 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4580853 |last=Yoeli |first=M |publication-date=1973 Aug |year=[[1973]] |title=Sir Ronald Ross and the evolution of malaria research. |volume=49 |issue=8 |periodical=Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine |pages=722-35 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4633457 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4633457 |last=Yoeli |first=M |publication-date=1973 Feb 2 |year=[[1973]] |title=[The development of malaria research before and since Ronald Ross] |volume=115 |issue=5 |periodical=Münchener medizinische Wochenschrift (1950) |pages=151-8 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:4862909 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4862909 |last=Kenéz |first=J |publication-date=1967 |year=[[1967]] |title=[Sir Ronald Ross--dilettant parasitologist--solves the malaria problem] |volume=108 |issue=37 |periodical=Orvosi hetilap |pages=1764-7 }} *{{Citation |id = [[PMID]]:13456540 |url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13456540 |last=JUHN |first=B |publication-date=1957 Jul 6 |year=[[1957]] |title=[Ronald Ross, the conqueror of malaria.] |volume=107 |issue=27 |periodical=Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) |pages=558-9 }} == External links == {{commons|Ronald Ross|Ronald Ross}} * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9064138/Sir-Ronald-Ross History] * [http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/ronaldross.html Anecdotes from Ronald Ross' life] * [http://web.archive.org/web/20060614023439/http://stevenlehrer.com/explorers/chapter_6-5.htm History] * [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=RefNo=='EC/1901/10'&dsqDb=Catalog Royal Society citation (1901)] * [http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1902/ross-bio.html Nobel prize page] * [http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/history/ross.htm Ross and the Discovery that Mosquitoes Transmit Malaria Parasites] * Ross's three part paper on the theory of epidemics is available on the web **Ronald Ross, "An Application of the Theory of Probabilities to the Study of a priori Pathometry. Part I", [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-56185 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A'', Vol. 92 (1916)]pp. 204-230. **Ronald Ross; Hilda P. Hudson, "An Application of the Theory of Probabilities to the Study of a priori Pathometry. Part II", [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-56186 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A'', Vol. 93 (1917)]pp. 212-225. **Ronald Ross; Hilda P. Hudson, "An Application of the Theory of Probabilities to the Study of a priori Pathometry. Part III", [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-56186 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A'', Vol. 93 (1917)]pp. 225-240. {{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1901-1925}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Ronald}} [[Category:1857 births]] [[Category:1932 deaths]] [[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]] [[Category:Parasitologists]] [[Category:Epidemiologists]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:British doctors]] [[Category:British mathematicians]] [[Category:British poets]] [[Category:British novelists]] [[Category:British Nobel laureates]] [[Category:Malaria]] [[Category:People from Almora]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital]] [[ar:رونالد روس]] [[bn:রোনাল্ড রস]] [[bs:Ronald Ross]] [[ca:Ronald Ross]] [[cs:Ronald Ross]] [[da:Ronald Ross]] [[de:Ronald Ross]] [[es:Ronald Ross]] [[fr:Ronald Ross]] [[hr:Ronald Ross]] [[id:Ronald Ross]] [[it:Ronald Ross]] [[sw:Ronald Ross]] [[nl:Ronald Ross]] [[ja:ロナルド・ロス]] [[no:Ronald Ross]] [[pl:Ronald Ross]] [[pt:Ronald Ross]] [[ro:Ronald Ross]] [[sl:Ronald Ross]] [[fi:Ronald Ross]] [[sv:Ronald Ross]] [[zh:罗纳德·罗斯]]