Professor Iain ML Donaldson FRCPE

Born: 22/10/1937
Died: 19/04/2023
Speciality: Neurophysiology
Designatory Letters: BSc, MB, ChB, FRCPE, FZS

Iain Malcolm Lane Donaldson was born in Bathgate, West Lothian to Archie, a colliery clerk, and Milly a Civil Servant. At school in Fettes he discovered a love of mathematics, but it was during a year spent in Switzerland whilst being treated for tuberculosis that he decided to read medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Having completed an Honours BSc, Iain graduated MB second in his year in 1962. After House Officer posts at the City and Western General Hospitals, he obtained an MRC postgraduate fellowship that led to a post as an Honorary Lecturer in Neurology. During this period, he obtained the membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh. In 1969 he spent a year in Paris at the Sorbonne before obtaining, in 1970, another MRC fellowship in neurophysiology at The University of Oxford. He became a Lecturer and Fellow of St Edmund Hall in 1974, their first medical Fellow, teaching and researching vision. In 1979 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Hull and in 1987, he returned to The University of Edinburgh as Professor of Neurophysiology. His many publications over this period give accounts of experimental studies into the physiological control of vision and the extraocular muscles, across a range of animals from pigeons to trout.

Retirement with an Emeritus Chair in 2000 led to Iain’s appointment as the 51st Honorary Librarian of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, a post he held until 2017. It proved the perfect match of person and position. Iain had an expert’s knowledge of bibliography and the production of books and, thanks to his considerable IT skills, he knew how to present and provide access to this material in the emerging digital world. One of the first projects that benefitted from these was a collaborative website put together to encourage research on the most important anatomy books housed in the libraries of the RCP Edinburgh and The University of Edinburgh. Vesalius's 1543 De Fabrica, was chosen as the central work leading to the development of the Ars Anatomica website. This was unsurprising as the life and work of the 16th century anatomist was one of Iain’s great enthusiasms. Another website that Iain became very involved with was the James Lind Library Illustrating the development of fair tests of treatments in health care. Encouraged by Sir Iain Chalmers, Professor Donaldson developed an interest in 15th to 17th century controlled trials and authored numerous papers on the subject.

Another time-consuming project was successfully altering the conditions previously restricting scholarly access to Sir John Pringle’s 18th century medical archive stored in Queen Street.  These legal issues coincided with a revamping of the library regulations, sparking Iain’s long standing interest in the college’s charter and laws

Iain built up a significant reputation in the history of medicine. His knowledge of the history of the library’s books, aided by his French and Latin skills, was unparalleled. His 31 historical articles over this period ranged from an Investigation into Amboise Paré’s 1537 method of treating gunshot wounds to The sale catalogue of Sir Robert Sibbald’s last library, and concluded with two published on Celsus when he was 83.

Iain had met and married the love of his life, Jean Patricia Maule, whilst an undergraduate. Pat worked alongside him in the laboratory throughout his career as a neurophysiologist. Pat died in 2014. They are survived by their son David.

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Iain Milne