David Stuart Gibson was a cardiothoracic surgeon in Hobart, Tasmania. Born in Hobart on 23 May 1925, he was the second child and only son of Stuart Galloway Gibson, a medical practitioner, and his wife, Leonora née Whitham who was a pianist and music teacher. His paternal grandfather, George Harry G

Alexander Falconer Grant was born on 1 February 1926 in Sydney, Australia. His father, Chesborough Grant, was a public servant and his mother, Henrietta, née Leary, a nursing sister. Both his brothers became surgeons and both were awarded the OBE. He attended North Sydney Boys' High School and Sydne

Harold Frank McGhie Bassett was born in Klang, Federated Malay States, on 4 June 1923, the son of John Harold Bassett a barrister-at-law and County Court Judge and Leila, nee McGhie. He was educated at Harrow School where he obtained an entrance exhibition before entering St Thomas's Hospital Medica

John Borrie was born and bred in Otago. In his formative years he excelled academically as well as on the sports field representing his college at cross-country running. He elected to follow in his father's footsteps and went on to Otago University to study medicine, graduating in 1938. During his t

William Williams was a consultant surgeon in Coventry. He was born in Newport, Gwent, on 11 May 1928. His father, William George, was an engine driver. His mother was Lillian Hyacinth Maud née Jones, a farmer's daughter. He was educated at Newport High School and Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, go

Ralph Neville Sapsford qualified in medicine in Cape Town in 1962 and eventually travelled to the UK, where he passed the fellowship of the college and of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1967. After working as a senior registrar in cardiothoracic surgery at the Hammersmith Hospital, he

Lindsay Grigg undertook his training in Melbourne, and then went to London where he undertook training in cardiothoracic surgery before returning to Australia. He also worked for a few years in Uganda where he did thoracic surgery and wrote about management of pyopericardium. He worked for a y

Stuart Craig Lennox was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Brompton Hospital, London. He was born on 25 May 1932 in Aberdeen, the son of James Craig Lennox and Agnes Lennox née Hadden. He was educated at Robert Gordon College in Aberdeen and then, from the age of 14, when he moved to London,

Robert Alexander Murdoch Lawson (known as 'Bob') was a cardiothoracic surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. He was born on 11 February 1938, in a farmhouse in Ardross, a tiny village in Ross-shire in the Highlands of Scotland. His parents, Margaret Perrins Lawson née Murdoch and Robert MacKen

William Keith Douglas was a cardiothoracic surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester. He was born in Manchester on 30 March 1917, the son of William Robert Douglas, a general surgeon who gained the FRCS in 1910, and Margaret Douglas née Kirkbride, a singer. He was educated at Leas School, Hoylake

Erik Husfeldt was the first Danish cardiothoracic surgeon. He became Professor of Surgery at the University of Copenhagen and was the inspiration behind the founding of the first intensive care unit in the world in Copenhagen in 1953. During the second world war he had been active in the Danish unde

Born in Ceylon in 1949, Sabanathan qualified in 1972 and, after junior posts, came to England in 1977 to specialise in surgery. He was appointed consultant cardiothoracic surgeon to the Bradford Royal Infirmary in 1989, where he developed a number of ingenious new techniques, including a method of c