Peter Medawar

Medawar paved the way for transplant surgery, and was a brilliant writer about science. Young was his ‘very, very good’ tutor at Oxford. Medawar worked in Florey’s lab, meeting his wife-to-be there, and went and sat at the feet of Rous in America, Rous passing off Medawar’s over-consumption of cocktails as an allergy to pumpkin pie. He met the influential Hašek at an Amsterdam conference. Huxley and Ayer were both friends, and fellow-panelists on a popular radio programme. Among other good friends, Medawar was an influential supporter of Tinbergen’s work, while Perutz and Popper were regular guests at his home.