Thomas Lewis (cardiologist)

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Sir Thomas Lewis, CBE, FRS (26 December 1881, Cardiff, Wales – 17 March 1945, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire) was a British cardiologist. He qualified as a doctor and worked as a physiologist and clinical scientist, carrying out fundamental research on the heart. Lewis corresponded with the Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven from 1906, concerning Einthoven's invention of electrocardiography, and Lewis pioneered its use in clinical settings. Accordingly, Lewis is considered the "father of clinical cardiac electrophysiology". He began using the new technology in 1908. In 1909, with James MacKenzie, he founded the journal Heart: A Journal for the Study of the Circulation, which was later renamed Clinical Science. In 1913, he published the book Clinical Electrocardiography, the first treaty on electrocardiography. Lewis was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918. He was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1920, and made a Knight Bachelor the following year (1921). He was awarded the Royal Society's Royal Medal in 1927: "For his researches on the vascular system, following upon his earlier work on the mammalian heart-beat." In 1930, he founded the Medical Research Society. He was awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1941: "For his clinical and experimental investigations upon the mammalian heart.". He served as Vice-President of the Royal Society from 1943 to 1945.

[edit] Sources

  • Entry for Lewis in the Royal Society's Library and Archive catalogue's details of Fellows (accessed 28 April 2008)

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Sir Thomas Lewis: Pioneer Cardiologist and Clinical Scientist (1997) by Arthur Hollman. ISBN 3 540 76049 0