James Edward Tierney Aitchison belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists James Edward Tierney Aitchison as Scottish surgeon, botanist (1836-1898).
James Edward Tierney Aitchison was born at Neemuch in 1836. His recorded nationality is United Kingdom. He trained at University of Edinburgh and Lasswade High School Centre.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
The recorded fields of work are botany and surgery.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
Recognition followed: Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
That the work was done from United Kingdom matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
James Edward Tierney Aitchison died in 1898, aged 62. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Fellow of the Royal Society
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Fields: botany and surgery
