Biologists & Naturalists Codexery

Peter Medawar

Biologist who discovered acquired immune tolerance, enabling organ transplantation.

Last updated

Peter Medawar

via Wikipedia: Lamarckism · see source

He has been called the "father of transplantation" for his scientific contributions.[1]

Last updated 2026-10-08 from the source article.

Life and work

Medawar was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a Lebanese father and British mother.[2][3] During World War II, he investigated skin grafts for treating soldiers' wounds.[4] He held professorships at the University of Birmingham and University College London.[5] He suffered a severe stroke in 1969 while serving as President of the British Association.[6][7]

He died in London in 1987 after further strokes.[8] After World War I ended in 1918, Medawar's family left Brazil for England, and he later attended Marlborough College where his biology teacher Ashley Gordon Lowndes sparked his interest in science.[9][10][11] Working with his doctoral student Leslie Brent and postdoctoral fellow Rupert E. Billingham, Medawar proved the principle of acquired immunological tolerance in mice.[12][4]

What the cited sources add

His book "The limits of science" was published by Harper & Row in 1984.[13] The Nobel Prize organization's official summary states that Medawar received half of the 1960 Nobel Prize for discovering acquired immunological tolerance.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Starzl, "Peter Brian Medawar: Father of Transplantation.", J. Am. Coll. Surg., 1995, p. 332–36 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Manuel, "Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia", John Wiley & Sons, 2007; Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20; Younes-Ibrahim, Maurício, "Brazilian Nephrology Pays Homage to Peter Brian Medawar", J. Bras. Nefrol., 2015, p. 7–8; McKenna, Amy; Wallenfeldt, Jeff; & Britannica Eds., "Petrópolis / Brazil", Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2026-05-25; Manuel, "Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia", John Wiley & Sons, 2007; Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20; Manuel, "Van Nostrand's en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Medawar, "Growth promoting and growth inhibiting factors in normal and abnormal development", University of Oxford, 1941; Medawar, "Sheets of Pure Epidermal Epithelium from Human Skin", Nature, 1941, p. 783; Medawar, "The behaviour and fate of skin autografts and skin homografts in rabbits: A report to the War Wounds Committee of the Medical Research Council.", Journal of Anatomy, 1944, p. 176–199; Medawar, "A second study of the behaviour and fate of skin homografts in rabbits: A Report to the War Wounds Committee of the Medical Research en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mitchison, "Peter Brian Medawar. 28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987", Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1990, p. 283–301 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Medawar, "Memoir of a Thinking Radish: An Autobiography", Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 27–43; Simmons, "Prophets without honour?", Nature, 2000, p. 839; Pyke, "Peter Medawar and the English Language", Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 1996, p. 555–568 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Calver, "The logic of scientific unity? Medawar, the Royal Society and the Rothschild controversy 1971–72", Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 2016-03-20, p. 83–100 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brent, "Jean Medawar's obituary", The Independent, 12 May 2005; Agran, "A closer look at the history of Alfriston", Sussex Life, 6 August 2019; "Unveiling of Medawar Nobel Prize medal", University of Oxford, 29 April 2024 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Glorfeld, "Peter Medawar solves rejection", Cosmos, 2020-02-23; Ribatti, "Peter Brian Medawar and the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance", Immunology Letters, 2015-10-01, p. 63–66; "Sir Peter Brian Medawar, D.Sc. (1915–1987)", The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Manuel, "Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia", John Wiley & Sons, 2007; Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20; Medawar, "Memoir of a Thinking Radish: An Autobiography", Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 27–43 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20; Anon., "Sir Peter Medawar", New Scientist, 12 April 1984, p. 14–20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Peter Medawar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simpson, "Medawar's legacy to cellular immunology and clinical transplantation: a commentary on Billingham, Brent and Medawar (1956) 'Quantitative studies on tissue transplantation immunity. III. Actively acquired tolera; "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960", Nobelprize.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Open Library record, ISBN 9780060390365 ("The limits of science"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  14. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960", Nobelprize.org. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Peter Medawar (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

ImmunologyNew Scientist

Also in the Codexery

Peter Medawar · Pioneers In Medicine And Physiology

More in Biologists & Naturalists

Luther BurbankMarguerite DavisMartinus BeijerinckNikolaas TinbergenPaul EhrlichRachel CarsonRobert Brown (botanist, born 1773)Robin Wall KimmererRudolf LeuckartLynn MargulisMacfarlane BurnetMarcello Malpighi

Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year did Peter Medawar die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1987.

2. In what year was Peter Medawar born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1915.

3. In which place was Peter Medawar born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Petrópolis, Brazil.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →