Doctors of Another Calling

Physicians Who Are Known Best in Fields Other than Medicine

Foreword by Howard Dean Edited by David K. C. Cooper

Not available to order

Publication date:

26 November 2013

Length of book:

464 pages

Publisher

University of Delaware Press

ISBN-13: 9781611494679

The medical profession is rich in those who have made names for themselves outside of medicine. The fields of literature, exploration, business, sport, entertainment, and beyond abound with doctors whose interests lie outside medicine. This book, largely written by members of the medical profession, examines the efforts of doctors in non-medical fields. The doctors discussed here are those who are, or were, well-known to the public for their contributions to their non-medical fields of choice. In many cases, the public may have been unaware that a subject was medically qualified. This book provides wide-ranging and comprehensive biographical sketches of forty-two doctors who are best known to the public for their contributions to fields outside of medicine.

Contents

Foreword (Howard Dean, MD)

Acknowledgements (David K.C. Cooper)

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction (David K.C. Cooper)

Chapter 1

St. Luke (1st century AD) –– The Most Widely-Read Physician (T. Jock Murray)

Chapter 2

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) –– Physician of the Soul (James E. Bailey)

Chapter 3

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) –– Celestial Physician (Michael E. Moran)

Chapter 4

John Locke (1632–1704) –– Philosopher and Political Theorist (Barry Silverman)

Chapter 5

Hans Sloane (1660–1753) –– The Ultimate Collector (Paul Berman)

Chapter 6

Thomas Dover (1660–1742) –– Buccaneer on the High Seas (David K.C. Cooper)

Chapter 7

Physician Patriots –– The Doctors Who Signed the American Declaration of Independence: Josiah Bartlett (1729–1795), Lyman Hall (1724–1790), Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), Matthew Thornton (1714–1803), Oliver Wolcott (1726–1797) (James R. Johnston)

Chapter 8

Mungo Park (1771–1806) –– Explorer of West Africa (Robert P. Turk)

Chapter 9

Thomas Young (1773–1829) –– The Smartest Person Ever? (Michael E. Moran)

Chapter 10

Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) –– And His Thesaurus (T. Jock Murray)

Chapter 11

John Keats (1795–1821) –– Romantic Poet (Joseph B. VanderVeer Jr.)

Chapter 12

Abraham Gesner (1797–1864) –– Father of the Petroleum Industry (T. Jock Murray)

Chapter 13

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) –– Writer and Philosopher (Charles S. Bryan)

Chapter 14

David Livingstone (1813–1873) –– Explorer of Africa (Mabel L. Purkerson)

Chapter 15

Alexander Borodin (1834–1887) –– Russian Composer (Paul Berman)

Chapter 16

William Chester Minor (1834–1920) –– Murderer and Maestro of Words (Clyde Partin)

Chapter 17

John Henry “Doc” Holliday (1851–1887) –– Tombstone Legend (Sandra W. Moss)

Chapter 18

John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) –– Of Cereal Fame (J. Gordon Frierson)

Chapter 19

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) –– Creator of Sherlock Holmes (James G. Ravin)

Chapter 20

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) –– Russian Writer (Joseph B. VanderVeer Jr.)

Chapter 21

Leonard Wood (1860–1927) –– Controversial Military Leader (J. Gordon Frierson and Daniel Morgan)

Chapter 22

Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) –– Reformer and Revolutionary (J. Gordon Frierson)

Chapter 23

Edward Wilson (1872–1912) –– Antarctic Explorer, Painter, and Naturalist (Jessie L. Ternberg)

Chapter 24

W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) –– Teller of Tales (Angela Nicholls)

Chapter 25

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) –– Organist, Theologian, and Nobel Laureate (J. Michael Fuller)

Chapter 26

Archibald Joseph (A. J.) Cronin (1896–1981) –– Best-selling Novelist (Peter E. Dans)

Chapter 27

Jules Stein (1896–1981) –– Visionary Extraordinaire (Rob H. Stone and Marvin J. Stone)

Chapter 28

Armand Hammer (1898–1990) –– Businessman Extraordinaire (David K.C. Cooper)

Chapter 29

Henry Stallard (1901–1973) –– The 1924 Paris Olympics and Chariots of Fire (John D. Bullock)

Chapter 30

Boyd Neel (1905–1981) –– Medicine or Music? (C. Peter W. Warren)

Chapter 31

Ernesto “Che” Guevara (1928–1967) –– Iconic Revolutionary (Amy L. Cooper)

Chapter 32

Roger Bannister (1929– ) –– The Four-minute Mile (David K.C. Cooper)

Chapter 33

Graham Chapman (1941–1989) –– From Medicine to Monty Python (David Cooper)

Chapter 34

Abraham Verghese (1955– ) –– His Own Countries, His Own Profession (Joseph W. Lella)

Chapter 35

Khaled Hosseini (1965– ) –– Novelist and Humanitarian (Joseph W. Lella)
Medical students who did not complete their studies

Chapter 36

Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) –– Polar Explorer (J. Michael Fuller)

Chapter 37

Friedrich “Fritz” Kreisler (1875–1962) –– Violinist and Composer (J. Michael Fuller)

Chapter 38

Lu Xun (1881–1936) –– The Pen Is Mightier Than the Scalpel (C. Peter W. Warren)

Appendix 1

Who Could Have Been Chosen? (David K.C. Cooper)

Appendix 2

Selected Physicians from Thomas Monro’s Collection of More Than Five- hundred Who Were Noted for Their Achievements Outside of Medicine (David K.C. Cooper)
About the Contributors

Doctors of Another Calling, edited by Cooper, is a type of reference book. More than 25 professional contributors, most with medical degrees, provide brief profiles of selected physicians as well as a few key individuals who studied medicine but made contributions in numerous other disciplines, such as literature and the arts, politics, and nonmedical science fields. The 40-plus biographies average about ten pages in length and are in chronological order starting with the apostle Luke. The youngest physician presented in the collection is contemporary novelist Khaled Hosseini. Other noteworthy individuals featured include Dante, Roger Bannister, Keats, Che Guevara, and A. J. Cronin, to mention a few. Each account covers the dual life of the male personage considered. No women are identified. Entries contain sources for further readings and portraits of the respective individuals. A valuable resource for history of medicine collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.