Bill Bowman obituary

Pharmacologist and academic who made a huge contribution in the field of anaesthesiaAnyone who has had a general anaesthetic in the last 40 years has reason to be grateful to Bill Bowman, who has died aged 83. Bill played a pivotal role in both understanding how muscle-relaxing drugs work and developing safer and shorter-acting replacements.A person under anaesthetic twitches alarmingly unless a drug is used for "paralysis" or temporary muscle relaxation. This allows surgery in the chest and abdomen without the need for very deep anaesthesia and makes it possible for a tube to be passed into the windpipe to keep a patient's airways open. In Bill's early career this was done with tubocurarine, the biologically active part of curare, the substance used by indigenous South American tribes in poison darts. Bill analysed how tubocurarine worked – it blocks the transmitter acetylcholine, released where nerves make muscles contract – and played a key role in developing three compounds widely used today.Born in Carlisle, Cumbria, Bill attended the city's grammar school during the second world war, and wanted to be a Spitfire pilot hunting the German bombers that were attacking Glasgow docks. When the war ended, his father, a pharmacist, steered Bill towards the new pharmacy school at London University, known as "the Square" due to its location in Bloomsbury Square (it later moved to Brunswick Square). He specialised in pharmacology, got a first, and did a PhD.In 1952, after two y...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: theguardian.com Obituaries Medical research Pharmacy and pharmacology Second world war Scotland University of Strathclyde Medicine Education Source Type: news