Dr J A L Bonnell (1924-1999)
| Autor: | Pauline Powell |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1999 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Radiological Protection. 19:375-375 |
| ISSN: | 1361-6498 0952-4746 |
| DOI: | 10.1088/0952-4746/19/4/601 |
| Popis: | John Bonnell, who was an Honorary Fellow and founder member of the Society, has died aged 75, ten months after a tragic accident. His involvement with SRP began at its formation from the UK Section of the Health Physics Society in 1962 with a membership of 203. He was Honorary Secretary of the SRP from 1966 to 1969 and again from 1970 to 1971. He was President from 1972 to 1974 and was the only person to hold the position for two years; the second term was because the incoming President, Bill Saxby, was appointed Scientific Attacheto the British Embassy in America. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Society in 1993. John was born in 1924 in Cymmer, Glamorganshire, and was a true bilingual Welshman who never lost sight of his roots. He took his early qualifications of MRCS, LRCP, MB and BS in 1948 and 1949, and became an accredited specialist in Occupational Medicine in 1977. He was awarded his FRCP in 1987. In the period 1948 to 1950 he held house appointments at two hospitals and then moved to the Medical Research Council as Assistant Physician in the Department for Research in Industrial Medicine. He joined the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1957 and eventually retired as Chief Medical adviser in 1986. His apogee during this service was the now almost forgotten Sizewell B enquiry, in the course of which John fought his corner with terrier-like tenacity often without the support of his senior management. During this period he also held other parallel honorary consultancy positions in the field of occupational medicine and had an excellent year as President on the Society of Occupational Medicine from 1976 to 1977. After retiral from the CEGB he spent a few pleasant years at the Robens Institute as their medical adviser. John was a Member or Fellow of a number of learned societies and had many papers published. He was one of the outstanding figures of post-war occupational medicine. His interests covered agricultural poisoning, air pollution, asbestos, cadmium, mercury, pulverised fuel ash, electromagnetic fields and, of course, ionising radiation, including emergency planning in particular. John was an early pioneer of the use of potassium iodate to reduce thyroid radiation doses due to inhalation of iodine-131 in the event of a nuclear accident. Indeed the joint paper with Charles Adams in 1962 is the original reference work, frequently cited. His pioneering work in the field of cadmium poisoning led to it becoming a notifiable disease by the DHSS. Close colleagues could find him stubborn, irascible and garrulous while at the same time he was unswervingly loyal, generous to a fault and a man of great honour. His life was subsequently clouded by the death of his wife Maureen, but he was not made to live on his own - he was far too companionable. He re-married in 1991 to Jill, who persuaded him to take up bowling, which he much enjoyed and in which he made a host of new friends. She was magnificent in the way she cared for him in his last, drawn out illness. He is survived by Jill and two daughters. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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