James Young Simpson

Born in Bathgate, Scotland, in 1811, James Young Simpson entered the University of Edinburgh at a remarkably young age and went on to become professor of midwifery there in 1840. He built a major reputation as an obstetrician and physician during a period when childbirth and surgery were often traumatic and extremely painful.

Simpson is remembered above all for demonstrating and promoting the use of chloroform as an anesthetic, especially in childbirth. His work helped speed the wider acceptance of anesthesia in medicine and made him famous well beyond Scotland.

He was later made physician to Queen Victoria and received a baronetcy, reflecting the public impact of his medical work. Simpson died in 1870, but his name remains closely tied to one of the great turning points in the history of patient care.