Robert Lim

Robert Lim
Born 15 October 1897
Singapore, British Empire
Died 8 July 1969(1969-07-08) (aged 71)
Elkhart, Indiana, United States
Nationality British subject
Republic of China
United States
Alma mater Edinburgh University
Spouse(s) Margaret Torrance
Tsing Ying Tsang
Children 2 (from Margaret)
Scientific career
Fields Physiology
Institutions Edinburgh University
University of Illinois at Chicago

Robert Kho-Seng Lim (simplified Chinese: 林可胜; traditional Chinese: 林可勝; pinyin: Lín Kěshèng) FRSE (15 October 1897 – 8 July 1969) was a Chinese doctor. He was affectionately known as Bobby Lim.

Life

He was born in Singapore in 1897 the son of Dr Lim Boon Keng, who promoted social and educational reforms in Singapore and China.

The family moved to Edinburgh in Scotland when he was eight. Here he attended George Watson's College.[1] During the first World War, he volunteered for and served in the Indian army medical service. In 1916, he returned to Edinburgh for medical studies, and graduated in 1919 with a MB ChB in Medicine from Edinburgh University, where he subsequently earned a Ph.D. in 1921[2], and a D.Sc. In 1923, aged only 26, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, William White Taylor, Arthur Robertson Cushny, and George Barger.[3]

He was awarded a Rockefeller fellowship in 1924, and used this to travel to the United States. He worked in the department of physiology in the University of Chicago before he was appointed associate professor, then head of department at the Peking Union Medical College. He was the founder of the Chinese Physiological Society.[4]

In 1929, he became a trustee of the 'Nanyang Club' in Penang, appointed by Cheah Cheang Lim. Other trustees included Queen's scholars Dr. Wu Lien-teh and Mr. Wu Lai Hsi, and Rockefeller Fellowship scholar and PUMC colleague, Dr. Lim Chong Eang. The 'Nanyang Club' is an old house in Peiping, China and was used to provide convenient accommodation to overseas Chinese friends.[4]

After the Second Sino-Japanese war, he rebuilt China's medical education and medical research. He was a Lieutenant General in the Army and Surgeon General of the Republic of China. In 1947, Lim reorganized the National Defense Medical Center and served as its first president. He left for the United States in 1949.

He was elected as a foreign member of United States National Academy of Sciences in 1942, and was elected a member in 1956.

He was granted American citizenship in 1955.[1]

He died of cancer on 8 July 1969.

Family

He married Margaret Torrance in Scotland in 1920. Following Margaret's death, he married Tsing-Ying Tsang in Shanghai in 1946.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lim-robert-k.pdf
  2. ↑ Lim, Robert Kho Seng (1921). "Researches on the gastric glands".
  3. ↑ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  4. 1 2 Francis Cooray & Khoo Salma Nasution, Redoutable Rerformer: The Life and Times of Cheah Cheang Lim. Areca Books, 2015. ISBN 9789675719202
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