The Resume

(September 30, 1951- )
Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia
With Robin Warren, showed that most peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterium, Heliobacter pylori (H. pylori)
As part of his research, drank a petri dish containing H. pylori and developed gastritis (1984)
With Warren, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2005)

Why he might be annoying:

He noted about growing up, ‘In our dad’s shed, our brothers and I had access to all the tools needed to build or dismantle anything. I frequently got into trouble doing both.’
In choosing a college major, he went with medicine over engineering because it required less calculus.
He decided not to discuss using himself as a test subject with the hospital ethics committee – or with his wife. (‘This was one of those occasions when it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission.’)
The first newspaper to report his findings was the tabloid ‘The Star,’ which, as you would suspect, played up the ‘doc uses self as guinea pig’ aspect over the actual science.
He tends to overshadow his collaborators, thanks to the self-experimentation factor making a great hook for a story. (And, yes, I realize that by profiling him and not Robin Warren I’m continuing the trend.)

Why he might not be annoying:

One of his hobbies is electronics and in the early 80s he built his own home computer to do word processing.
He said one of the reasons for his success was that he had not specialized in gastroenterology: ‘My knowledge and ideas were founded in basic science rather than the dogma one was required to learn in specialist medicine.’
He decided to experiment on himself only after several attempts to infect pigs with H. pylori had failed.
Thanks to his research, ulcers that used to be repaired surgically can be treated with antibiotics.
His research also led to the discovery that H. pylori infection can cause stomach cancer.
He said, ‘I like the excitement of new things. Boredom is the worst thing.’

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• 21st Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 61]
• I Come from Oz
• I Earned a Doctorate
• I Married in 1972
• Look at Me, I'm Thirsty
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (Ranked: 2005)
• Profiles 37751-38000 (Ranked: 37907)
• Scientists

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying