The book influenced many, particularly Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud), who almost single-handedly invented the profession of public relations. This was a major contribution to social psychology and coined the phrase “the herd instinct”. Trotter’s claim to polymath status rests mainly on his 1915 book Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. The surgeon Robin Pilcher described him as “the perfect example of the good doctor”. His contemporaries at University College Hospital (UCH) London regarded him with awe: “No gentler hands were ever given to a surgeon,” wrote his pupil, the neurosurgeon Julian Taylor. Trotter was a pioneer in several branches of surgery, including neurosurgery and head and neck surgery. For this service, he was offered a knighthood, which he (rather stylishly) refused. He carried out the operation in Buckingham Palace, travelling there by bus. In 1928, he operated on George V for empyema, saving his life. Wilfred who? Trotter was, by common consent, the finest British surgeon of the inter-war years. Wilfred Trotter (1872-1939) is a rare example of a true medical polymath in his own words, one of “the small and sporadic crop of the heroically gifted”.
After taking 10 years to qualify as a doctor, he went on to become a fashionable ear, nose, and throat surgeon, whose entire contribution to the scientific literature was a single case report in the British Medical Journal. Oliver St John Gogarty (surgeon, poet, athlete, and senator) was often called a polymath, but wasn’t much respected by the medical monomaths. Using this strict criterion, Miller was an opera director who happened to have a medical degree. If they accept you at their level, you have reached that stage rather than just dabbling.” In other words, a polymath must be the equal of the monomaths in each field of his or her activity. “Polymath activities”, wrote the biochemist and author Carl Djerassi, “must pass a certain level of quality control that is expected within each field by the competition. He hated these judgements, regarding them as vulgar and glib.
Jonathan Miller (doctor, theatre and opera director, documentary maker, broadcaster, abstract sculptor, and photographer), who died in November 2019, was often called a “renaissance man” or a “polymath”. True polymaths are rare, but there are some notable examples in the medical profession
0 kommentar(er)
