Don't know if this link will work, but give it a go. I seeem to find out about the most interesting people only if they have just died and their obituary appears in the paper.

The obit was much more interesting than this dry description. It admitted that at least his first (8? or 14?) patients died despite his attempts at helping, but his designs were real ingenuity and he was constantly working on improvements. He used sausage skins for the first attempts at dialysis!

The other thing that made me smile was that his wife divorced him as they were approaching their tenth decade, because she said he spent too much time on his work. He never really retired...

So here's to someone who really did something amazing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Johan_Kolff

Nowadays, we'd get nowhere this way, because garden shed engineering is not seen as good enough, but that is pretty much how he started out.

And thanks for posting up Mary Seacole. Nightingale is often portrayed as a sort of comforting angel, but I think she was more likely not to mix too much with the patients, and stick to the cleaner jobs like inventing the pie chart...

A bit like our wonderful "degreed" nurses of the present day, then ( ... sorry, but you really lined me up for that one)!

But, Dr.Pim, yes ... worthy for sure!

I'm pleased that you made that note about Mrs.Pim, by the way. Well, that's women for you. They (most of 'em, that is) just don't get it, do they?

After 60 years, it was bound to prove too much - you have to draw a line somewhere!

Which reminds me of:-

"She was only the architect's daughter, but she knew where to draw the line"!

Steve Jobs ... a true visionary and a man who made a real difference!

RIP.

OK ... it's back to maths (not to mention Genius Guys).

Only two people matter...

James Dean for everything we are, look like, wear, eat and drive..
and..
Buddy Holly for everything we listen to..

Nobody, but nobody, has had a bigger influence on todays western cultures than these two. Without them, our world would be totally unrecogniseable now..

OK ... if you *say so.

Anyway, where have you been all this time? Oh, right ... out polishing the car. To each his own, and all that.

* In your world, perhaps. Each of us inhabit our own version of reality, after all.

Yes ... perhaps that's why she is so often held up as a role model for our present day nurses.

To be honest, I doubt that many would find it easy to live up to the letter of the Nightingale Pledge nowadays.

Not so sure about having invented the pie chart, though. The way I read it, the Lady with the Lamp was really more of an "early adopter".