Lung Cancer Researcher Dead At 92
Sir Richard Doll, the British scientist who first established a link between smoking and lung cancer, died Sunday. He was 92.
The epidemiologist, whose research was credited with preventing millions of premature deaths, died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after a short illness, according to Oxford University, where Doll worked at the Imperial Cancer Research Center.
His seminal 1950 study, which he wrote with Austin Bradford Hill, showed that smoking was "a cause, and a major cause" of lung cancer.
During groundbreaking research, he and colleagues interviewed some 700 lung cancer patients to establish a common thread.
"It was not long before it became clear that cigarette smoking may be to blame," Doll said of the research. "I gave up smoking two-thirds of the way through that study." The findings were published in 1950 and confirmed in a paper in 1954.
Doll remained active up to his death, releasing a follow-up study in 2004 that showed at least half, and perhaps as many as two-thirds, of people who begin smoking in their youth are eventually killed by the habit.
"Richard Doll's work has prevented millions of premature deaths in the 20th century, and will prevent tens of millions of premature deaths in the present century. He was unique in medical history," said Professor Sir Richard Peto, his close colleague for more than 30 years.
Professor Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research U.K. said Doll was "an outstanding and unique individual who thrived on the challenge of research."
"There is already one extraordinary memorial to this truly exceptional individual - the millions of lives that he saved through revealing the truth about the deadly nature of smoking," he said. "By doing this he provided the bedrock of all tobacco-related public health policy around the world."
Deborah Arnott, director of anti-smoking campaign group ASH, said Doll was the "godfather" of the health movement against tobacco and its effects.
"He is responsible for saving millions of lives both here and around the world. His work has done more to save people's lives than anything else in medicine, certainly more than any drug," she said.
In 1954, some 80 percent of British adults smoked. Half a century later that figure was down to 26 percent, largely due to the fear of cancer and other smoking-related diseases.
Doll was regarded as one of the most eminent scientists of his generation. He published hundreds of papers on topics as varied as oral contraception, peptic ulcers and electrical power lines and demonstrated that aspirin could protect against heart disease. He also uncovered evidence to suggest that drinking alcohol increased the risk of breast cancer.
The scientist received honorary degrees from 13 universities, won countless awards, including the United Nations Award for Cancer Research in 1962 and the gold medal of the European Cancer Society in 2000.
He was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1956, was knighted in 1971 and in 1996 made a Companion of Honor - a select group limited to 65 persons at any one time - for services of national importance.
William Richard Shaboe Doll was born Oct. 28, 1912, in Hampton on the River Thames west of London, and educated at Westminster School. In 1937, he graduated from St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London, and served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II.
Immediately after the war, he started work at the Medical Research Council and in 1961 was appointed director of the council's Statistical Research Unit. He became Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University in 1969 and from 1970-71 served as president of the Royal Society.
Doll is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
By David Rising