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William C. Gorgas

 
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William Crawford Gorgas KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV of the United Kingdom whilst he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III of the United Kingdom....
 (October 3, 1854 – July 3, 1920) was a United States physician and 22nd Surgeon General
Surgeons General of the United States Army

The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department . By policy, the Surgeon General serves as Commanding General, United States Army Medical Command as well as head of the AMEDD....
 of the U.S. Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
 (1914-18). He is best known for his work in abating the transmission of yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
 and malaria
Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
 by controlling the mosquitoes that carry them at a time when there was considerable skepticism and opposition to such measures. Born at Toulminville, Alabama
Toulminville

Toulminville is a district in Mobile, Alabama. It began as a small settlement on the property of Theopilus Toulmin, who served as Sheriff of Mobile County in the 1830s....
, Gorgas was the first of six children of Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas

Josiah Gorgas was one of the few Northern-born Confederate States of America generals in the American Civil War. As chief of ordnance, he managed to keep the Confederate armies supplied with weapons and ammunition, despite the Union blockade and even though the Southern United States had hardly any munitions industry before the war began....
 and Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Amelia Gayle Gorgas

Amelia Gayle Gorgas was librarian and post-mistress of the University of Alabama for 25 years until her retirement at the age of eighty in 1907....
.

r studying at The University of the South and Bellevue Hospital Medical College
Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center, founded in 1736, is the oldest public hospital in the United States. It is located in New York City and has been the site of countless milestones in the history of medicine....
, Doctor Gorgas was appointed to the US Army Medical Corps
Medical Corps

Medical Corps may refer to any of the following organizations:In the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth of Nations:* Royal Army Medical Corps, a specialist corps of the Army Medical Services that provides medical care to British Army personnel...
 in June 1880.






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William Crawford Gorgas KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV of the United Kingdom whilst he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III of the United Kingdom....
 (October 3, 1854 – July 3, 1920) was a United States physician and 22nd Surgeon General
Surgeons General of the United States Army

The Surgeon General of the United States Army is the senior-most officer of the U.S. Army Medical Department . By policy, the Surgeon General serves as Commanding General, United States Army Medical Command as well as head of the AMEDD....
 of the U.S. Army
United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
 (1914-18). He is best known for his work in abating the transmission of yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
 and malaria
Malaria

Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa....
 by controlling the mosquitoes that carry them at a time when there was considerable skepticism and opposition to such measures. Born at Toulminville, Alabama
Toulminville

Toulminville is a district in Mobile, Alabama. It began as a small settlement on the property of Theopilus Toulmin, who served as Sheriff of Mobile County in the 1830s....
, Gorgas was the first of six children of Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas

Josiah Gorgas was one of the few Northern-born Confederate States of America generals in the American Civil War. As chief of ordnance, he managed to keep the Confederate armies supplied with weapons and ammunition, despite the Union blockade and even though the Southern United States had hardly any munitions industry before the war began....
 and Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Amelia Gayle Gorgas

Amelia Gayle Gorgas was librarian and post-mistress of the University of Alabama for 25 years until her retirement at the age of eighty in 1907....
.

Career

After studying at The University of the South and Bellevue Hospital Medical College
Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center, founded in 1736, is the oldest public hospital in the United States. It is located in New York City and has been the site of countless milestones in the history of medicine....
, Doctor Gorgas was appointed to the US Army Medical Corps
Medical Corps

Medical Corps may refer to any of the following organizations:In the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth of Nations:* Royal Army Medical Corps, a specialist corps of the Army Medical Services that provides medical care to British Army personnel...
 in June 1880. Gorgas was assigned to three posts -- Fort Clark
Fort Clark

Fort Clark can refer to:*Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site - one of the largest Mandan Villages where George Catlin and Karl Bodmer visited...
, Fort Duncan
Fort Duncan

Fort Duncan was a U.S. Army post, set up to protect the first U.S. settlement on the Rio Grande near the current town of Eagle Pass, Texas.Fort Duncan was established on March 27, 1849, when Captain Sidney Burbank occupied the site with companies A, B, and F of the 1st Infantry Regiment ....
, and Fort Brown
Fort Brown

Fort Brown was a military post of the United States Army in Texas during the later half of 19th century and the early part of the 20th century....
  -- in Texas. While at Fort Brown (1882-84), he survived yellow fever and met Marie Cook Doughty, whom he married in 1885. In 1889 after the end of the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War

The Spanish?American War was an armed military conflict between Spain and the United States that took place between April and August 1898, over the issues of the liberation of Cuba....
 Gorgas was appointed Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana
Havana

Havana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Provinces of Cuba. The city/province has 2.1 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.5 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean....
, working to eradicate yellow fever and malaria.

Gorgas was made Surgeon General of the Army in 1914, in which position he was able to capitalize on the momentous work of another Army doctor, Major Walter Reed
Walter Reed

Major Walter Reed, M.D., was a U.S. Army physician who in 1900 led the team which confirmed the theory that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes, rather than by direct contact....
, who had himself capitalized on insights of a Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay
Carlos Finlay

Carlos Juan Finlay was a Cuban physician and scientist....
, to prove the mosquito transmission of yellow fever
Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....
. As such, Gorgas won international fame battling the illness -- then the scourge of tropical and sub-tropical climates -- first in Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, later in Havana, Cuba and finally at the Panama Canal
Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a man-made canal which joins the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean oceans. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South Am...
.

As chief sanitary officer on the canal project, Gorgas implemented far-reaching sanitary programs including the draining of ponds and swamps, fumigation, mosquito netting, and public water systems. These measures were instrumental in permitting the construction of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a man-made canal which joins the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean oceans. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South Am...
, 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.

Gorgas received an honorary knighthood
List of honorary British Knights

This is an incomplete list of people who have been created honorary Knights by the British crown, as well as those who have been raised to the two comparable Orders of Chivalry and the Royal Victorian Chain, which do not carry titles....
 (KCMG) from King George V
George V of the United Kingdom

George V was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha....
 at the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital
Queen Alexandra Hospital

The Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth, is one of several hospitals serving the city of Portsmouth. It is owned and administered by the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust....
 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 shortly before his death there on July 3, 1920. He was given a special funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Legacy


  • The Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, Incorporated (GMITP), which operated the Gorgas Laboratories in Panama
    Panama

    Panama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on an isthmus connecting North and South America, some categorize it as a transcontinental nation....
    , was founded in 1921 and was named after Dr. Gorgas. With the loss of congressional funding in 1990, the GMITP was closed. The Institute was moved to the University of Alabama
    University of Alabama

    The University of Alabama is a state university coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System....
     in 1992 and carries on the tradition of research, service and training in tropical medicine
    Tropical medicine

    Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropics and subtropics regions....
    . The Gorgas Course in Clinical Tropical Medicine is sponsored by the University of Alabama School of Medicine
    University of Alabama School of Medicine

    The UAB School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham is a state university medical school located in Birmingham, Alabama....
     in conjunction with Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima
    Lima

    Lima is the Capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chill?n River, R?mac River and Lur?n River rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean....
    , Peru
    Peru

    Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
    .


  • Gorgas Hospital
    Gorgas Hospital

    Gorgas Hospital was a hospital in Panama City, Panama named for U.S. Army general and physician William C. Gorgas.Built on the site of a French hospital called "L'Hospital Notre Dame de Canal", it was originally called Ancon Hospital and later renamed Gorgas Hospital....
     was a U.S. Army hospital in Panama named for Dr. Gorgas from 1928. Now in Panamanian hands, it is home to the Instituto Oncologico Nacional
    Instituto Oncologico Nacional

    The National Oncologic Institute or ION is a specialized hospital for cancer treatment, located in Panama City, Panama....
    , Panama's Ministry of Health and its Supreme Court.


  • In 1953 William C. Gorgas was inducted in the Alabama Hall of Fame
    Alabama Hall of Fame

    The Alabama Hall of Fame was established by Acts of Alabama No. 646 to recognize "worthy citizens of the state who rendered outstanding service or who won fame on account of their achievements as to make them exceptional in the history of Alabama"....
    .


  • Gorgas Hall, located on the campus of The University of Alabama
    University of Alabama

    The University of Alabama is a state university coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System....
    , is named in honor of his mother, Amelia Gayle Gorgas
    Amelia Gayle Gorgas

    Amelia Gayle Gorgas was librarian and post-mistress of the University of Alabama for 25 years until her retirement at the age of eighty in 1907....
    . The University of Texas Brownsville also has a Gorgas Hall in his honor. The university's campus is located on the grounds of the former Fort Brown
    Fort Brown

    Fort Brown was a military post of the United States Army in Texas during the later half of 19th century and the early part of the 20th century....
    .


  • William Crawford Gorgas Electric Generating Plant, Located along the Black Warrior River near Parrish. Total nameplate generating capacity - 1,221,250 kW: Generating units - 5


  • There is a Gorgas Hall at the University of the South in Sewanee
    Sewanee, Tennessee

    Sewanee is an unincorporated town in Franklin County, Tennessee, Tennessee, United States, treated by the U.S. Census as a census-designated place ....
    , Tennessee
    Tennessee

    Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
    . It was originally a student residence hall at Sewanee Military Academy.


  • The German
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
     commercial passenger ship
    Passenger ship

    A passenger ship is a ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include cargo ship which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight....
    -cargo ship
    Cargo ship

    A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade....
     SS Prinz Sigismund, after being seized by the United States
    United States

    The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
     when the United States entered World War I
    World War I

    World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
     on the side of the Allies
    Allies of World War I

    File:Map Europe alliances 1914-en.svgThe Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The main allies were the Russian Empire, French Third Republic, the British Empire, Kingdom of Italy , the Empire of Japan, and the United States....
    , had a long American career under the name General W. C. Gorgas (named for Dr. Gorgas), including commercial service as SS General W. C. Gorgas from 1917 to 1919 and from 1919 to 1941, as the United States Navy
    United States Navy

    The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
     troop transport USS General W. C. Gorgas
    USS General W. C. Gorgas (ID-1365)

    USS General W. C. Gorgas was a United States Navy Transport in commission in 1919....
     in 1919, and as the United States Army Transport USAT General W. C. Gorgas from 1941 to 1945.


See also

  • Sanitation
    Sanitation

    Sanitation is the hygienic means of preventing human contact from the hazards of wastes to promote health. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease....
  • Vector control
    Vector control

    For vector control of induction motors, see Vector_control_vector control is any method to limit or eradicate the mammals, birds or arthropods, insects which transmit disease pathogens....
  • Tropical disease
    Tropical disease

    Tropical diseases are Infectious diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropics and subtropics regions. These diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation during the cold season....
  • Miasma theory of disease
    Miasma theory of disease

    The miasmatic theory of disease held that diseases such as cholera or the Black Death were caused by a miasma , a noxious form of "bad air"....


External links

  • – The Military Health System provides a look at the life and work of William Gorgas.
  • The Gorgas Memorial Institute, University of Alabama
  • , at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research