Peter Beighton

Peter Beighton
Born	1934 (1934) Lancashire, England
Died	14 June 2023(2023-06-14) (aged 88–89) Cape Town, South African
Citizenship	South African
Education	St Mary's Hospital, University of London; St Thomas' Hospital, London; Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
Known for	Beighton Scale for joint hypermobility
Spouse	Greta
Awards	Gold medal of the British Orthopaedic Association, President's Medallion of the South African Orthopaedic Association, silver medal of the South African Medical Research Council, Order of Mapungubwe
Scientific career
Fields	Clinical genetics
Institutions	University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town
Academic advisors	Victor McKusick

Peter H. Beighton

Early life and education

Beighton was born in Lancashire in England in 1934.

Beighton received several awards including the gold medal of the British Orthopaedic Association, the President's Medallion of the South African Orthopaedic Association, the Smith & Nephew literary award and the silver medal of the South African Medical Research Council. In 2002, he was the first recipient of the newly established Order of Mapungubwe - bronze, which was bestowed for lifetime achievement as a scientist, and for research into the inherited disorders of the skeleton.^[3]

Beighton was a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh. Beighton was accorded Fellowships of the University of Cape Town, the British Society of Rheumatology, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society, SA. In 1999, at the age of 65 years he obtained the degree of Master of Philosophy in History by external thesis at the University of Lancaster, UK. Professor Beighton retired with Emeritus status at the end of 1999, retaining his links with UCT, and collaborating with the University of the Western Cape Faculty of Dentistry. In 2014 at the age of 80 years he was still employed part-time in the UCT Faculty of Health Sciences as a Senior Scholar.

Sixteen of Professor Beighton's postgraduate students have been awarded Doctorates, and ten of these have achieved Professorial status. Professor Beighton was the author, co-author or editor of 20 monographs and editions, 34 chapters and more than >430 medical publications.

Peter Beighton and his wife Greta Beighton shared an interest in the history of medical genetics and published two unique volumes of brief biographies of people for whom genetic syndromes have been named.

Personal life and death

Peter and Greta participated in the sport of orienteering for many years, and they were South African champions in their respective age groups on several occasions. Greta died in Cape Town on 29 May 2017.^[4]

Peter Beighton died in Cape Town on 14 June 2023.^[5]

References

• The Man Behind the Syndrome. By Peter Beighton & Greta Beighton. Springer Verlag (1986)
  ISBN 0-387-16218-6
• The Person Behind the Syndrome. By Peter Beighton & Greta Beighton. Springer-Verlag; (June 1997)
  ISBN 3-540-76044-X

External links

• Biographical sketch of Peter Beighton with a photograph on the University of Cape Town site