1910-1987

English Obstetrician

Obstetrician Ian Donald helped develop the first successful diagnostic ultrasound machine in the 1950s. His innovation—applying sonar techniques to diagnosis—was initially greeted with skepticism, but eventually adopted and adapted for widespread use. Brown also invented a respirator for newborn infants, and in his later years worked to develop a birth-control device that would predict ovulation.

Donald was born in Liskeard, Cornwall, England, on December 27, 1910, the eldest of four children. His father, John Donald, was a doctor, and his mother, Helen Wilson Donald, a concert pianist. Donald attended Fettes College in Edinburgh, then went to South Africa, where he studied at the Diocesan College in Rondebosch, and later at Capetown University. There he obtained a B.A. in French, Greek, English, and music. Upon his return to England, he enrolled at St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School, earning his M.B. (bachelor of...