Some more pharmacological history: the legend of the Brocken and the statistics of purity in heart

This post follows directly from "Some pharmacological history: an exam from 1959". In that post, I related how two of my teachers in Leeds, James Dare and George Mogey, had encouraged my interest in statistcs. George Mogey had worked previously at the famous Wellcome Research Labs in Beckenham, Kent. He had been there at the same time as J.W. Trevan, who pioneered accurate methods of biological assay. Another person who overlapped with Mogey and Trevan at Beckenham was C.L. Oakley. I’m told by Audrey Mogey, George’s widow, that they were good friends of the Oakleys and that probably explains why George Mogey introduced me to Cyril Oakley, who had the chair of bacteriology at Leeds while I was an undergraduate there. Oakley’s Biographical Memoir makes no mention of statistics. The only person I’ve located who knew him is Keith Holland (professor of microbiology at Leeds). He told me "I was trained by CLO between !961-65 and he inspired me to remain in research into aspects of anaerobic bacteriology and I attended his lectures on statistics, which were highly stimulating and humorous. He frequently used examples of magicians turning lead into gold and I can not recall examples of goats and men." The statistical connection stems from an article that was written by Oakley in 1943, Oakley, C. L. (1943). "He-goats into young men: first steps in statistics", University College Hospital Magazine Vol 28, 16-21. Now you can dow...
Source: DC's goodscience - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Bioassay George Mogey J.W. Trevan Wellcome Labs Beckenham C.L. Oakley He-goats into young men Probits The Brocken Wellcome Lab Beckenham Source Type: blogs