The Wood Library–Museum of Anesthesiology is proud to announce the winners of the 2000 Laureate of the History of Anesthesiology. First awarded in 1996, the Laureate is conferred as recognition for excellence in contributions to the history of anesthesiology. After an exhaustive international search that spans the globe, this honor is bestowed every 4 yr. Nominations are sent to a committee of the Wood Library–Museum members. Each committee member independently evaluates the nomination and sends a rank-order list to Patrick Sim, the librarian of the Wood Library–Museum. The committee’s selection is announced the year before the laureate is announced, just before the Louis H. Wright lecture at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. This year, two outstanding anesthesiologists and historians have been selected to share the Wood Library–Museum Laureate: Norman A. Bergman, M.D., and Thomas B. Boulton, O.B.E., T.D., M.A., M.B., B.Chir., F.R.C.A., F.D.S.R.C.S., D.A., are worthy of this great honor.
Dr. Bergman was born in Seattle, Washington in October of 1926. He earned his bachelor of arts from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and matriculated at the University of Oregon Medical School. Dr. Bergman was an intern at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, and, in 1952, Dr. Bergman completed his residency in anesthesiology at Columbia University in New York City. His first faculty appointment was at Columbia. In 1958, he moved to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Dr. Bergman was a professor at the University of Utah before he left to assume the chairship at the University of Oregon School of Medicine. At the time of his death in November 1999, a month after the announcement of his award, Dr. Bergman was still associated with the department and was a member of the faculty. FIGURE
Dr. Bergman was considered to be an expert on pulmonary physiology and gas exchange, and history was also a prominent feature of his academic career. Dr. Bergman published his first history article in 1958, and he published 24 articles in peer-reviewed medical literature. His contributions were so seminal that he was awarded twice the David M. Little Prize for the best publication in the history of anesthesiology by the Anesthesia History Association. Dr. Bergman’s area of expertise was the history of anesthesiology before the public demonstration of ether anesthesia at the ether dome at the Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846. The Genesis of Surgical Anesthesia stands as testament to his years of research regarding the subject. It is the most complete reference about the subject.
Thomas Babington Boulton was born in November of 1925 in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. His primary education took place at St. Peter’s School in York, and he matriculated at Cambridge University, studying at Emmanuel College. He underwent his medical education at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London, where he completed his training in surgery and, later, anesthesia. Winner of a Fullbright award, Dr. Boulton spent a year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. By 1961, he was a consultant anaesthetist and consultant in charge of intensive care at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He left this post in 1973 to become a consultant anesthetist and to take charge of day surgery at Berkshire Hospital in Reading; he also joined the Nuffield Department of Anaesthesia at Oxford as a consultant and clinical lecturer. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Boulton was the editor of Anaesthesia from 1973 to 1982, the president of the Royal Society of Medicine’s Section on Anaesthetics, the president of the Association of Anesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, and the president of the History of Anaesthesia Society. FIGURE
Dr. Boulton’s list of publications is impressive. In addition to history, Dr. Boulton published extensively about anesthesia in difficult environments and about intensive care; he also published numerous editorials about a wide range of subjects for the journal Anaesthesia. History, however, has been an important component of his professional publications since his first publication in 1973. Dr. Boulton wrote three major book chapters, co-edited three books about the history of anesthesia, including the remarkable proceedings of the second international symposium on the history of anesthesiology, and published 18 peer-reviewed papers. Recently, Dr. Boulton published a book titled The Associated Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland 1932–1992 and the Development of the Specialty of Anaesthesia . This outstanding book is a unique source of information about the creation of infrastructure in anesthesiology in Great Britain.
The careers of Drs. Norman Bergman and Thomas B. Boulton reflect a deep and abiding interest in the history of anesthesia. Through their works, a unique perspective of the past has been opened to all anesthesiologists. The Laureate of the Wood Library–Museum confirms and celebrates the unique contributions these two anesthesiologists have made to the study of the history of this specialty. The careers of Drs. Bergman and Boulton are exemplary and should serve as models for anesthesiologists in the years to come.
