Brian Windeyer

Sir Brian Wellingham Windeyer KBE, FRCS (7 February 1904 – 26 October 1994) was Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London, from 1942–69, Dean of school from 1954–67 and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1969–72.[1][2]

Early life and education

Windeyer was born in Turramurra[3] near Sydney, Australia, to parents of British, and earlier Swiss origin. He was the youngest of seven children of Mabel Fuller Robinson (1864–1956), an orphan emigrant from London to Australia at the age of 18. In 1891 she married Richard Windeyer KC (1864–1957), a barrister. His grandfather was Sir William Charles Windeyer.[3]

He attended Sydney Church of England Grammar School and then studied medicine at the University of Sydney obtaining MBBS in 1927.[4][2]

Career

After time at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, he worked at the Fondation Curie in Paris from 1929–30.[5] He obtained a Diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology 1933 at Cambridge University.[2] He also obtained FRCS at the University of Edinburgh. In 1931 he became radium officer at the Middlesex Hospital and officer in charge of the Meyerstein Institute of Radiotherapy formed in 1936. This was at a time when radium and x-ray treatment were carried out by different clinical teams.[6] In World War II he was director in the emergency medical service of Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, Middlesex. In 1942 he became the first professor of therapeutic radiology at the Middlesex.[5] He helped found and became President of the Faculty of Radiologists (1949–52).[6][7]

Personal life

He was married twice, first on 21 March 1928 to Joyce Ziele Russell (1903–1981). They had a son Michael (1933–) and daughter Joanne (1936–). He married second, in January 1948, Elspeth Anne Bowery and had three children, Francis (1949–), Kyla (1954–), and Elspeth (1957–).[4][3]

He was knighted (KBE) in 1961.[2] The Windeyer building, now the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, of University College London with which the Middlesex Medical School merged, was named after him.[6]

See also

• List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
• Radiation therapy
• History of radiation therapy

References

1. National Library of Australia, accessed 23 March 2013
2. Encyclopaedia of Australian Science: Rosanne Walker, 30 June 1997, modified 4 February 2010, accessed 23 March 2013
3. "Juan del Regato Foundation Radiological Oncologists c.1986 accessed 23 September 2013" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
4. New Scientist on Google Books, 21 September 1961, accessed 23 March 2013
5. Oxford Brookes University: Sir Brian Windeyer in interview with Sir Gordon Wolstenholme, Oxford, 17 March 1986, accessed 23 March 2013 Archived April 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
6. Windeyer - history of a building, accessed 23 March 2013
7. Royal College of Radiologists, list of past presidents, accessed 23 March 2013