William C. Gorgas
William Crawford Gorgas | |
---|---|
Toulminville, Alabama, US | |
Died | July 3, 1920 London, England | (aged 65)
Place of burial | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | United States Army |
Years of service | 1880–1918 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands held | Surgeon General of the US Army |
Awards | Distinguished Service Medal Public Welfare Medal (1914) |
Relations | Josiah Gorgas (father) Amelia Gayle Gorgas (mother) John Gayle (grandfather) |
William Crawford Gorgas
He was a
Early life and education
Born in
After studying at
Military career
He was assigned to three posts—Fort Clark, Fort Duncan, and Fort Brown—in Texas. While at Fort Brown (1882–84), Gorgas survived an episode of yellow fever.[3] He met Marie Cook Doughty who also contracted the disease at the same place and time. They recovered together, forming a bond and soon married.[4][5]
In 1898, after the end of the
As chief sanitary officer on the canal project, Gorgas implemented far-reaching sanitary programs, including the draining of ponds and swamps, fumigation, use of mosquito netting, and construction of public water systems. These measures were instrumental in permitting the construction of the Panama Canal, as they significantly prevented illness due to yellow fever and malaria (which had also been shown to be transmitted by mosquitoes in 1898) among the thousands of workers involved in the building project.[7]
Gorgas served as president of the
Gorgas retired from the Army in 1918, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 64.[8]
Personal life
He was married to Marie Cook Doughty (1862–1929) of Cincinnati.
Death and legacy
- He received an St. Paul's Cathedral.[11]
- Gorgas' name features on the Frieze of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Twenty-three names of public health and tropical medicine pioneers were chosen to feature on the School building in Keppel Street when it was constructed in 1926.[12]
- Gorgas, Alabama was named after him.[13]
Awards and Honors
Military Awards
- Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)[14]
- Spanish Campaign Medal
- Army of Cuban Occupation Medal
- Victory Medal
Other honors
- Elected member of the American Philosophical Society[15]
- Public Welfare Medal – National Academy of Sciences[16]
- Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[17]
- Honorary Knight Commander of Michael and George(KCMG) (United Kingdom)
Legacy
- The Universidad Peruana Cayetano Herediain Lima, Peru.
- Instituto Oncologico Nacional, Panama's Ministry of Health and its Supreme Court.
- In 1947 the Gorgas Science Foundation was founded at Texas Southmost College (on the site of the former Fort Brown). The foundation supports conservation and ecological science research projects worldwide.
- The Gorgas Medal is awarded by the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS)
- In 1953 William C. Gorgas was inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame.
- Gorgas House, located on the campus of The University of Alabama, are named in honor of the Gorgas family.[18]
- Texas Southmost College has a Gorgas Hall named in his honor. The college's campus is located on the grounds of the former Fort Brown.
- The Alabama Power Company renamed its Warrior Reserve Steam Plant on the Black Warrior River near Parrish in honor of Gorgas in the 1920s. Gorgas had testified on behalf of the utility during the previous decade in lawsuits over mosquito-borne illnesses in the vicinity of its Lay Dam hydroelectric reservoir.[19]The coal-fired steam plant was closed in April 2019.
- The German commercial USAT General W. C. Gorgasfrom 1941 to 1945 during World War II.
- Gorgas's Rice Rat(Oryzomys gorgasi) is a South American rodent named after Gorgas in 1971.
- The Latin University of Panama (Universidad Latina de Panama) named their health sciences faculty in Gorgas's honor (Facultad de ciencias de la salud Dr. William C. Gorgas).
- There is a Gorgas Avenue in the Presidio in San Francisco, California.[20]
- Gorgas Hall at Sewanee - The University of the South is named in his honor and was ranked the worst dorm at Sewanee in 2022 by College Jaguar [2]
- In 1984 the "Major General William C. Gorgas Clinic" was dedicated as part of the Mobile County Health Department, located at 251 North Bayou Street, Mobile, AL [3]
- Gorgas's papers are held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.[21]
- There is a Gorgas Road on Fort Myer, Virginia[22]
See also
- Health measures during the construction of the Panama Canal
- Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone
- Sanitation
- Vector control
- Tropical disease
- Miasma theory of disease
References
- ^ The Great Adventure, Volume 4. Great Adventure League. 1920. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
- ^ Owen, Marie Bankhead, ed. (1927). Publications: Historical and patriotic series. Montgomery, Alabama: Birmingham Printing Company. p. 308. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
- ^ OCLC 40298151.
- ^ ISBN 0-67124409-4.
- New York Times. November 10, 1929. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
- ^ "William Gorgas, 1854–1920". Harvard University. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ "Contagion, Tropical Diseases and the Construction of the Panama Canal, 1904–1914". Harvard University. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ^ "Public Welfare Award". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- ^ "Burial Detail: Gorgas, William C. (Section 2, Grave 1039)". ANC Explorer. Arlington National Cemetery. (Official website).
- ^ "Famous Surgeon is Dead". Associated Press. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
Maj. Gen. William C. Gorgas, former Surgeon-General of the United States Army, died at an early hour this morning. Gen. Gorgas's death was very peaceful. He was unconscious most of the time for the last few day
- ^ After his death, Gorgas's ongoing work (through the Rockefeller Foundation) in eliminating yellow fever in Mexico and Central America was carried on by retired Brigadier General Theodore C. Lyster.
- ^ "Behind the Frieze". Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ISBN 081730410X. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Valor awards for William Crawford Gorgas". Military Times.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "William C. Gorgas". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "William Crawford Gorgas". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. February 9, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ "The University of Alabama". Ua.edu. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ Atkins, Leah Rawls (2006). 'Developed for the Service of Alabama': The Centennial History of the Alabama Power Company. Birmingham, Alabama: Alabama Power Company.
- ^ "Maps - Presidio of San Francisco (U.S. National Park Service)". Nps.gov. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "William Crawford Gorgas Papers 1890–1918". National Library of Medicine.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- From the brochure "150 Year Celebration of the U.S. Marine Hospital/Mobile County Health Department" – December 15, 1993 – Bernard H. Eichold, II M.D., Dr. P.H., Health Officer
Further reading
- Ashburn, P.M., History of the Medical Department of the U.S. Army, 1929.
- Gibson, John M., Physician to the World: The Life of General William C. Gorgas, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1950.
- Gorgas, Marie and Burton J. Hendrick, William Crawford Gorgas: His Life and Work, New York: Doubleday, 1924.
- Mellander, Gustavo A., Mellander, Nelly, Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1-56328-155-4. OCLC 42970390. (1999)
- Mellander, Gustavo A., The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years." Danville, Ill.: Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568. (1971)
- Phalen, James M., "Chiefs of the Medical Department, U.S. Army 1775–1940, Biographical Sketches," Army Medical Bulletin, No. 52, April 1940, pp. 88–93.
- Wilson, Owen (July 1908). "The Conquest Of The Tropics: How Col. Gorgas's Sanitary Work At Panam Has Proved The Possibility of Beautiful Tropical Residence". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XVI: 10432–10445. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
- Endorsements, Resolutions and other Data in Behalf of the Nomination of Dr. William Crawford Gorgas for Election to the New York Hall of Fame for Great Americans, 2 vols., Birmingham: Gorgas Hall of Fame Committee, 1950.
Obituaries:
- "William Crawford Gorgas". The Scientific Monthly. 11 (2): 187–190. 1920. Bibcode:1920SciMo..11..187.
- Ireland, M.W. (1920). "General William C. Gorgas". Science. 52 (1333): 54. PMID 17736545.
- Martin, Franklin H. (1923). "William Crawford Gorgas". Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics. October: 546–558.
- Noble, R.E. (1921). "William Crawford Gorgas". Am J Public Health. 11 (3): 250–256. PMID 18010462.
- Siler, J.F. (1922). "Major-General William Crawford Gorgas". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine. 1 (2): 161–171. .
External links
- Video: William Gorgas Biography on Health.mil – The Military Health System provides a look at the life and work of William Gorgas.
- The Gorgas Memorial Institute, University of Alabama
- Gorgas Memorial Library, at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
- Alabama Hall of Fame Bio
- The Gorgas TB Initiative
- Gorgas Science Foundation Website
- Mobile County Health Department – Maj. Gen. William C. Gorgas Clinic
- William Crawford Gorgas papers, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
- "William Crawford Gorgas". at ArlingtonCemetery.net. January 22, 2023. (Unofficial website).