Contents
What should I know first about Ross?
Who was Ronald Ross?
Ronald Ross was a British doctor who was born in India. He was born on 13 May 1857 in Almora. He died on 16 September 1932.
Where did he come from?
His father was a Scottish general in the Indian Army. His mother was English. He was educated in Great Britain, then went back to India as an army doctor.
Why do people remember him?
- He showed that mosquitoes carry the malaria parasite.
- He made his key find at Secunderabad in 1897.
- He won a Nobel Prize in 1902.
- Human Progress calls him the first Nobel laureate born outside Europe.
Sources: Nobel Prize facts, the life, Hektoen, the family, Human Progress, the first.
Why did he study malaria?
A famous teacher pointed him towards the problem.
Who started him?
In 1894 Sir Patrick Manson showed Ross malaria parasites in human blood. Manson said mosquitoes were linked to the spread of malaria. He said India was the best place to test the idea.
How did he begin?
Ross sailed for India in April 1895. He started hunting for malaria patients at the Bombay Civil Hospital almost at once.
Where did he serve?
He joined the Indian Medical Service in 1881. His postings included Madras, Burma, Bangalore and Secunderabad.
Sources: Hektoen, Manson and India, Nobel biography, the career, Armed Forces journal, the postings.
What did he find on 20 August 1897?
This is the date every exam asks about.
What did he do first?
In July 1897, at Secunderabad, Ross fed brown mosquitoes on a malaria patient. The patient was a volunteer, paid eight annas. A few days later he dissected a mosquito stomach.
What did he see?
On 20 August 1897 he saw the malaria parasite in the stomach wall of a mosquito. It was an Anopheles, which he called a dapple-winged mosquito. Before that he had studied other mosquitoes, such as Culex, for over two years.
Why does the date matter?
Ross later called 20 August “Mosquito day”. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine marks it as World Mosquito Day.
How did he publish it?
His paper appeared in the British Medical Journal on 18 December 1897.
Sources: Hektoen, the experiment, Encyclopedia.com, the sighting, Armed Forces journal, the 1897 find.
What did the birds show in 1898?
The second big step came a year later, in Calcutta.
Why use birds?
Birds also catch a malaria parasite. Ross could follow it step by step in them.
What did he prove?
Mosquitoes were the go-between in bird malaria. He showed the parasite passing from infected birds to healthy birds by mosquito bite. Encyclopedia.com says he also traced its stages in the mosquito’s salivary glands.
What else did 1898 add?
Ross found that the salivary glands store the parasite. He also found that it leaves the glands when the mosquito bites. His Calcutta report on bird malaria dates from 1898.
Who told the world?
Manson presented the findings at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Medical Association.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com, the birds, Hektoen, the birds, Armed Forces journal, Calcutta.
What poem did he write?
Ross loved poetry as much as science.
When did he write it?
He wrote verses on 21 August 1897. That was almost at once after he saw the parasite cyst.
What was it about?
The verses are part of a long poem called “Exile”. Hektoen quotes a line that ends with “O million-murdering Death”. He saw his find as a blow against a killer disease.
Sources: Encyclopedia.com, the poem, Hektoen, the poem.
Why did he win the Nobel Prize?
The committee honoured the whole malaria programme.
What was the award?
He won the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The prize share was 1/1, so he received all of it.
What did the citation say?
It was for his work on malaria, by which he showed how it enters the organism. It said this laid the foundation for successful research on the disease and for ways to fight it.
Where did he work then?
The Nobel site lists University College, Liverpool as his affiliation at the time. His 1923 Memoirs were inscribed to the people of Sweden and the memory of Alfred Nobel.
Sources: Nobel Prize facts, the citation, Nobel biography, the Memoirs, Human Progress, the Nobel Prize.
What else is worth knowing?
What was the dispute with Grassi?
Credit for malaria was not shared peacefully.
What did the Italians do?
Encyclopedia.com says Italian workers showed that the human malaria parasite was the same one. A bitter priority dispute followed. It says the Nobel Prize to Ross in 1902 ended much of the bitterness.
What did Grassi find?
Human Progress says the Italian zoologist Giovanni Battista Grassi identified Anopheles as the genus that spreads the disease.
How do the scientists differ?
| Scientist | Role in the story |
|---|---|
| Ross | Found the parasite in the mosquito and traced its life cycle. |
| Manson | Showed Ross the parasite in blood in 1894. |
| Grassi | Italian zoologist who identified Anopheles. |
| Laveran | First saw the pigmented bodies that Ross later matched. |
Sources: Encyclopedia.com, the dispute, Human Progress, Grassi, Hektoen, the rival claim, Nobel biography, Laveran and Manson.
What did he do after India?
His experimental career in India ended in 1899.
Why did he leave?
He resigned from the Indian Medical Service in 1899. He joined the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, led by Sir Alfred Jones.
What did he do there?
He went at once to West Africa. There he found the mosquito species that carry African fever. He also planned anti-malaria schemes in Egypt, Panama and Mauritius.
What posts followed?
He held the Liverpool chair of tropical medicine from 1902 to 1912. In the First World War he advised on tropical diseases among Indian troops.
What did he add to science?
He built mathematical models of malaria spread. They began in his Mauritius report of 1908. He built on them in Prevention of Malaria in 1911.
Sources: Nobel biography, Liverpool and Africa, Hektoen, after India, Encyclopedia.com, the models.
What else made him special?
What else was he good at?
Hektoen calls him a polymath.
Which talents did he have?
- Poet and novelist.
- Mathematician.
- Musician and dramatist.
- Amateur artist.
What shows it?
At fourteen he won a mathematics prize book. At sixteen he took first place in a drawing exam. He wrote The Prevention of Malaria and several novels.
Sources: Hektoen, the talents, Nobel biography, the writings.
Which honours and institute carry his name?
What honours did he receive?
- 1901: Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and of the Royal Society.
- 1902: Companion of the Order of the Bath.
- 1911: Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
- 1918: Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.
- Belgium: Officer of the Order of Leopold II.
What is the Ross Institute?
The Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases opened in 1926. The Prince of Wales opened it. Ross became its director and stayed until his death in 1932. Admirers created it. He died at the Institute in London.
Sources: Nobel biography, the honours, Hektoen, the Institute, Nobel Prize facts, the death.
How do I revise Ross in one minute?
What should I remember about Ross?
What are the key points?
- Born: 13 May 1857, Almora, India.
- Find: 20 August 1897, Secunderabad, Anopheles.
- Birds: 1898, Calcutta, malaria passed by mosquito between birds.
- Prize: 1902 Nobel Prize, awarded to him alone.
- Rival: Giovanni Battista Grassi, an Italian zoologist.
- Institute: Ross Institute, opened in 1926.
Sources: Nobel Prize facts, key points, Encyclopedia.com, key points, Hektoen, key points.
How do Ross questions appear in exams? Exam practice
What do examiners test about Ross?
What are the traps?
- Two dates. The gut find is 20 August 1897 at Secunderabad. The bird work and salivary glands belong to 1898 and Calcutta.
- July or August? He fed the mosquitoes in July 1897. The parasite sighting is 20 August 1897.
- Culex or Anopheles. The key mosquito was an Anopheles, not Culex.
- A shared prize. The 1902 Nobel Prize was awarded to Ross alone.
- The helpers. Manson guided him. Grassi was the rival. Laveran saw the pigmented bodies first.
- Source dates. One source dates his bird result to September 1896. Most place the complete work in 1898. Follow the question’s source.
Sources: Hektoen, exam points, Encyclopedia.com, exam points, Armed Forces journal, the dates.
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Questions to think through
Why did Ross use birds as well as people?
Ross could follow the bird parasite step by step. It passed through the mosquito and on to a healthy bird. That gave him proof of the cycle.
Why are July and August 1897 both important?
July 1897 is when he fed mosquitoes on a patient. August 1897 is when he first saw the parasite cyst. Exams ask for the sighting, 20 August.
Why did the Nobel Prize go to Ross alone?
The prize share was 1/1. The citation honoured his work on how malaria enters the body. Encyclopedia.com says the award ended much of the bitterness with the Italians.
Why is 20 August called Mosquito day?
Ross himself later used that name for the day of his find. Hektoen says a London medical school now marks it every year.
Sources: Hektoen, Mosquito Day, Encyclopedia.com, the Nobel Prize, Nobel Prize facts, the prize share.
MCQ on Ronald Ross
Test his birthplace, the 20 August 1897 find, the 1898 bird work, the Nobel Prize and the Grassi dispute. Read the explanation after each answer.
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