Sid Watkins

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Eric Sidney Watkins
Born September 6, 1928 (1928-09-06) (age 79)
Liverpool, UK
Nationality British
Title President of the FIA Instititute for Motor Sport Safety
Former FIA Formula One Safety and Medical Delegate
Former head of the Formula One on-track medical team

Eric Sidney Watkins,[1] MD, FRCS, OBE (September 6, 1928 – ) is a world-renowned English neurosurgeon.

Watkins served twenty-six years as the FIA Formula One Safety and Medical Delegate, head of the Formula One on-track medical team, and first responder in case of a crash.

He is commonly known within the Formula One fraternity as Professor Sid and is married and has four sons and two daughters.

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[edit] Early Life

Sidney Watkins was born in Liverpool, UK to Wallace and Jessica Watkins. Wallace was originally a coal miner from Gloucestershire, but had moved to Liverpool during the Great Depression of the 1930s where he started a small business initially repairing bicycles before progressing to motor vehicle repairs. He had two brothers and a sister.[2]

Watkins graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Liverpool in 1956,[3] during his time there he carried out research on the effects of heat stress on performance, finding that increased heat greatly effected intellectual performance. This research would later prove useful as part of his work in motor racing.[4] Following graduation, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in West Africa for four years. Thereafter he returned to the UK to specialize in neurosurgery at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford and it was at this time that Watkins became interested in motorsports, as he began to act as race doctor at the Silverstone Circuit during his free time.

Upon receiving an offer to be professor of neurosurgery at the State University of New York in 1962, Watkins moved to Syracuse, New York and continuted his interest in motorsport at the Watkins Glen circuit. He returned to England in 1970 to act as head of neurosurgery at the London Hospital, and was invited to join the RAC medical panel the same year.

[edit] Formula One

In 1978 he met Bernie Ecclestone, at the time manager of the Brabham Formula One team, who offered Watkins the position of official Formula One race doctor.[5] He held this position along with a number of FIA safety-related titles - until 2004. The FIA has recognized Watkins for being largely responsible for the modernization of medical standards in Formula One as well as the saving of many lives including Didier Pironi (1982) and Rubens Barrichello (1994).

In 2002, Watkins was made a member of the Order of the British Empire.[2] The University of Liverpool presented him with an honorary doctorate at a ceremony in Liverpool on July 8, 2004. On October 12, 2004, Watkins became the first president of the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society, and in December of that year he became the first president of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety, both created in honor of the FIA's hundredth anniversary.

[edit] Retirement

On January 20, 2004, Watkins announced his retirement from his various medical positions in the FIA, but stated his intention to continue as President of the FIA Instititute for Motor Sport Safety. FIA President Max Mosley appointed Watkins's longtime deputy Gary Hartstein as his successor.[6] Following his departure Mosley remarked that "Professor Watkins has made a unique contribution to improving the standards of safety and medical intervention throughout motor sport."[7]

Each year the Motorsport Safety Fund organises the Watkins Lecture, which takes place at the Autosport Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. These lectures usually focus on motorsport safety related matters, and have been delivered by guest speakers such as Max Mosley and Ross Brawn. Watkins himself is due to deliver the 2007 Lecture.

Watkins has written or co-authored a number of books on racing safety, including Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One.

[edit] See also

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ OBEs N - Z. BBC News Online. British Broadcasting Corporation (2002-06-14).
  2. ^ a b Professor Sidney Watkins Honoured. Watkins Family History Society. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09.
  3. ^ University Alumni:Help us find your Missing Friends. The University of Liverpool. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09.
  4. ^ Mind Games.
  5. ^ The importance of Sid Watkins. GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. (2005-01-20).
  6. ^ FIA Formula One Medical Delegate
  7. ^ F1 stalwart bows out. Motoring.co.za (2005-01-20).

[edit] External links

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