The Most Famous

PHYSICIANS from United Kingdom

This page contains a list of the greatest British Physicians. The pantheon dataset contains 726 Physicians, 60 of which were born in United Kingdom. This makes United Kingdom the birth place of the 3rd most number of Physicians behind Germany, and United States.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary British Physicians of all time. This list of famous British Physicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of British Physicians.

1. Edward Jenner (1749 - 1823)

With an HPI of 77.00, Edward Jenner is the most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 100 different languages on wikipedia.

Edward Jenner (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae ('pustules of the cow'), the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox. In the West, Jenner is often called "the father of immunology", and his work is said to have saved "more lives than any other man".: 100 In Jenner's time, smallpox killed around 10% of the global population, with the number as high as 20% in towns and cities where infection spread more easily. In 1821, he was appointed physician to King George IV, and was also made mayor of Berkeley and justice of the peace. He was a member of the Royal Society. In the field of zoology, he was among the first modern scholars to describe the brood parasitism of the cuckoo (Aristotle also noted this behaviour in his History of Animals). In 2002, Jenner was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons.

2. William Harvey (1578 - 1657)

With an HPI of 74.58, William Harvey is the 2nd most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 79 different languages.

William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, pulmonary and systemic circulation as well as the specific process of blood being pumped to the brain and the rest of the body by the heart (though earlier writers, such as Realdo Colombo, Michael Servetus, and Jacques Dubois, had provided precursors to some of his theories).

3. Elizabeth Blackwell (1821 - 1910)

With an HPI of 65.57, Elizabeth Blackwell is the 3rd most famous British Physician. Her biography has been translated into 54 different languages.

Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 1821 – 31 May 1910) was an Anglo-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States, and the first woman on the Medical Register of the General Medical Council for the United Kingdom. Blackwell played an important role in both the United States and the United Kingdom as a social reformer, and was a pioneer in promoting education for women in medicine. Her contributions remain celebrated with the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, awarded annually to a woman who has made a significant contribution to the promotion of women in medicine. Blackwell was not initially interested in a career in medicine. She became a schoolteacher in order to support her family. This occupation was seen as suitable for women during the 1800s; however, she soon found it unsuitable for her. Blackwell's interest in medicine was sparked after a friend fell ill and remarked that, had a female doctor cared for her, she might not have suffered so much. Blackwell began applying to medical schools and immediately began to endure the prejudice against her sex that would persist throughout her career. She was rejected from each medical school she applied to, except Geneva Medical College in New York, in which the male students voted in favor of Blackwell's acceptance, albeit as a joke. Thus, in 1847, Blackwell became the first woman to attend medical school in the United States. Blackwell's inaugural thesis on typhoid fever, published in 1849 in the Buffalo Medical Journal and Monthly Review, shortly after she graduated, was the first medical article published by a female student from the United States. It portrayed a strong sense of empathy and sensitivity to human suffering, as well as strong advocacy for economic and social justice. This perspective was deemed by the medical community as feminine. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with her sister Emily Blackwell in 1857, and began giving lectures to female audiences on the importance of educating girls. She played a significant role during the American Civil War by organizing nurses, and the Infirmary developed a medical school program for women, providing substantial work with patients (clinical education). Returning to England, she helped found the London School of Medicine for Women in 1874.

4. Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912)

With an HPI of 64.93, Joseph Lister is the 4th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 71 different languages.

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventive healthcare. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of surgery in the same manner that John Hunter revolutionised the science of surgery. From a technical viewpoint, Lister was not an exceptional surgeon, but his research into bacteriology and infection in wounds revolutionised surgery throughout the world. Lister's contributions were four-fold. Firstly, as a surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, he introduced carbolic acid (modern-day phenol) as a steriliser for surgical instruments, patients' skins, sutures, surgeons' hands, and wards, promoting the principle of antiseptics. Secondly, he researched the role of inflammation and tissue perfusion in the healing of wounds. Thirdly, he advanced diagnostic science by analyzing specimens using microscopes. Fourthly, he devised strategies to increase the chances of survival after surgery. His most important contribution, however, was recognising that putrefaction in wounds is caused by germs, in connection to Louis Pasteur's then-novel germ theory of fermentation. Lister's work led to a reduction in post-operative infections and made surgery safer for patients, leading to him being distinguished as the "father of modern surgery".

5. James Parkinson (1755 - 1824)

With an HPI of 63.91, James Parkinson is the 5th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

James Parkinson (11 April 1755 – 21 December 1824) was an English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist. He is best known for his 1817 work An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by Jean-Martin Charcot.

6. Niels Kaj Jerne (1911 - 1994)

With an HPI of 63.68, Niels Kaj Jerne is the 6th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Niels Kaj Jerne, FRS (23 December 1911 – 7 October 1994) was a Danish immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein "for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies". Jerne is known for three significant ideas. Firstly, instead of the body producing antibodies in response to an antigen, Jerne postulated that the immune system already has the specific antibodies it needs to fight antigens. Secondly, it was known that the immune system learns to be tolerant to the individual's own self. Jerne postulated that this learning takes place in the thymus. Thirdly, it was known that T cells and B cells communicate with each other. Jerne's network theory proposed that the active sites of antibodies are attracted to both specific antigens (idiotypes) and to other antibodies that bind to the same site. The antibodies are in balance, until an antigen disturbs the balance, stimulating an immune reaction.

7. John Snow (1813 - 1858)

With an HPI of 62.82, John Snow is the 7th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology and early germ theory, in part because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in London's Soho, which he identified as a particular public water pump. Snow's findings inspired fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public health around the world.

8. Edgar Adrian (1889 - 1977)

With an HPI of 62.82, Edgar Adrian is the 8th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 57 different languages.

Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (30 November 1889 – 4 August 1977) was an English electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons. He provided experimental evidence for the all-or-none law of nerves.

9. James Black (1924 - 2010)

With an HPI of 61.54, James Black is the 9th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 55 different languages.

Sir James Whyte Black (14 June 1924 – 22 March 2010) was a Scottish physician and pharmacologist. Together with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings, he shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988 for pioneering strategies for rational drug-design, which, in his case, led to the development of propranolol and cimetidine. Black established a Veterinary Physiology department at the University of Glasgow, where he became interested in the effects of adrenaline on the human heart. He went to work for ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1958 and, while there, developed propranolol, a beta blocker used for the treatment of heart disease. Black was also responsible for the development of cimetidine, an H2 receptor antagonist, a drug used to treat stomach ulcers.

10. John Langdon Down (1828 - 1896)

With an HPI of 61.23, John Langdon Down is the 10th most famous British Physician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

John Langdon Haydon Down (18 November 1828 – 7 October 1896) was a British physician best known for his description of the genetic condition now known as Down syndrome, which he originally classified in 1862. He is also noted for his work in social medicine and as a pioneer in the care of mentally disabled patients.

People

Pantheon has 71 people classified as British physicians born between 1510 and 1977. Of these 71, 1 (1.41%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living British physicians include Vivek Murthy. The most famous deceased British physicians include Edward Jenner, William Harvey, and Elizabeth Blackwell. As of April 2024, 11 new British physicians have been added to Pantheon including Robert Liston, Anthony Carlisle, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.