Introduction of the Carman Lecturer

Abstract

It has been customary on former occasions for the President to designate someone to introduce the Carman Lecturer to the members and friends of the Radiological Society of North America, but this is a privilege that I would not relinquish, the privilege of introducing a great scientist and a distinguished physician who is also an old and dear friend, Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen. Our speaker this evening is, I believe, the most creative mind in surgery in America—perhaps in the world. If I were to attempt to relate his accomplishments and his many honors, I might be forced to occupy this podium for the entire evening. Suffice it to say that he has been awarded honorary degrees by St. Olaf's College, the University of Buffalo, and the University of Chicago, as well as many honorary memberships in medical societies, both here and abroad. He has been given the Samuel Gross Medal, the Alvarenza Prize, the John Scott Medal, the American Cancer Society Award, and the Pittsburgh Surgical Society Award. Instead of listing more honors, however, I would prefer to speak of his early beginnings, of his personality, and of the profound effect he has had upon his students and his colleagues. Dr. Wangensteen is a typical Minnesotan, born in a small town in the northern part of the state, of Norwegian immigrant parents. He grew up in close contact with the earth and its creatures. His first association with medicine came at a very tender age, when he acted as assistant to a veterinary who attended the cattle in the family-dairy. It was the cow's loss and our gain when he realized that his own aspirations were too human and too large to be so restricted. Dr. Wangensteen and I shared a rather home-grown education at the University of Minnesota, as well as many later experiences. When I returned in 1927 from a year's study abroad, Dr. Wangensteen went to Switzerland to complete the graduate education which he had begun at the University. On his return in 192,8, his rise was spectacular and indicative of his quality, for at the age of thirty-two he became Chairman of his Department, the youngest Chief of Surgery in America. His favorite and oft repeated maxim has been: “It is not aptitude but attitude.” Fortunately for medical science, he possessed both of these attributes to a superlative degree. His fertile mind, magnificent memory, tenacious resolve, and indefatigable energy have resulted in great accomplishment, crowned in a sense by his recent election as President of the American College of Surgeons. Above all, he has been the great experimenter—impatient of theorizing, intent upon proving. He could well have been the author of the biblical injunction “How long halt ye between opinions.”