Almroth Wright

Infobox Scientist
name = Almroth Wright
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image_width =150px
caption = Sir Almroth E. Wright at Cambridge.
birth_date = August 10, 1861
birth_place = Middleton Tyas, Yorkshire, England.
death_date = April 301947
death_place = Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire, England
residence = Australia, France, Germany, England.
citizenship =
nationality = United Kingdom
ethnicity =
field = bacteriology immunology
work_institutions = Netley Hospital St Mary's Hospital, London
alma_mater = Trinity College, Dublin
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
influenced =
prizes =
religion = Atheist
footnotes =

Sir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB (1861-1947) was a British bacteriologist and immunologist. He is best known for advancing vaccination through the use of autogenous vaccines (prepared from the bacteria harboured by the patient) and also through typhoid vaccination with typhoid bacilli killed by heat.

Biography

In the 19th century, Wright worked with the armed forces of Britain to develop vaccines and promote immunisation.

In 1902 Wright started a research department at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He developed a system of anti-typhoid inoculation and a method of measuring protective substances (opsonin) in human blood. Citing the example of the Second Boer War, during which many soldiers died from easily preventable diseases, Wright convinced the armed forces that 10 million vaccines for the troops in northern France should be produced during World War I. Among the many bacteriologists who followed in Wright's footsteps at St Mary's was Sir Alexander Fleming, who in turn later discovered lysozyme and penicillin.

Wright warned early on that antibiotics would create resistant bacteria, something that has proven an increasing danger. He made his thoughts on preventive medicine influential, stressing preventive measures. Wright's ideas have been re-asserted recently—50 years after his death—by modern researchers in articles in such periodicals as "Scientific American".

He also proposed that logic be introduced as a part of medical training, but his idea was never adopted. Wright also pointed out that Pasteur and Fleming, although both excellent researchers, had not actually managed to find cures for the diseases which they had sought cures, but instead had stumbled upon cures for totally unrelated diseases.

"The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage" by Sir Almroth Wright M.D. F.R.S. was published in 1913, and is available on Project Gutenberg.

Wright was immortalised by George Bernard Shaw as Sir Colenso Ridgeon in the play 'The Doctor's Dilemma' written in 1906.

Works

*"The Unexpurgated Case against Woman Suffrage" (1913)
*"Pathology and Treatment of War Wounds" (1942)
*"Researches in Clinical Physiology" (1943)
*"Studies on Immunization" (2 vol., 1943–44)

References

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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17575871
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year=2007
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periodical=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
pages=16-7
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12486306
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year=2002
title=Who was...Almroth Wright?
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periodical=Biologist (London, England)
pages=280-2
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12215201
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publication-date=2002
year=2002
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pages=125-47
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10631532
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publication-date=1999
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periodical=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
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publication-date=1995
year=1995
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url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7966100
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first=J L
publication-date=1994 Oct
year=1994
title=Almroth Wright--phagocytosis and opsonization.
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issue=10
periodical=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
pages=576-7
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id = PMID:1820079
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1820079
last=Gillespie
first=W
publication-date=1991 Dec
year=1991
title=Paul Ehrlich and Almroth Wright.
volume=106
issue=4
periodical=West of England medical journal
pages=107, 118
*Citation
id = PMID:4612919
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4612919
last=Allison
first=V D
publication-date=1974
year=1974
title=Personal recollections of Sir Almroth Wright and Sir Alexander Fleming.
volume=43
issue=2
periodical=The Ulster medical journal
pages=89-98
*Citation
id = PMID:4485442
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4485442
last=Hatcher
first=J
publication-date=1972 Nov
year=1972
title=Sir Almroth Wright; pioneer of humanised cows' milk.
volume=86
issue=18
periodical=Midwives chronicle
pages=356
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id = PMID:14447829
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14447829
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pages=130-6
*Citation
id = PMID:13082064
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13082064
last=COLEBROOK
first=L
publication-date=1953 Sep 19
year=1953
title=Almroth Wright; pioneer in immunology.
volume=2
issue=4837
periodical=British medical journal
pages=635-40
*

ee also

*Frederick F. Russell