Sir Peter Medawar | |
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Born | |
Died | 2 October 1987 London, United Kingdom | (aged 72)
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Oxford University |
Awards | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1960; Order of Merit 1981 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Zoology; Immunology |
Institutions | Birmingham University University College London National Institute for Medical Research |
Influences | Howard Florey; J.Z. Young |
Sir Peter Brian Medawar OM CBE FRS (28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987) was a British biologist.
His work was important to skin grafts and organ transplants.
Transplants of skin and organs from other people are usually rejected. This is an action by the immune system. Medawar showed that sometimes this reaction can be avoided, and why.
He worked on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance. He was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet.
Until he was partially disabled by a stroke, Medawar was Director of the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London.