Obituary: Dr John Francis Nunn
MB ChB, DSc, MD, PhD, FGS, FRCS (Hon), FRCA (Hon), FANZCA (Hon), FCAI (Hon)
1925-2022
John Nunn was born in Colwyn Bay in 1925, the son of Francis Nunn
and his second wife Lilian Davies. He was educated at Wrekin School
and then read medicine at Birmingham University. He was by then
passionate about climbing and geology. John and three geologists
left Birmingham the day after graduating in July 1948 to undertake
the first post-war geological expedition to Spitzbergen. An early
return home because of the early onset of winter enabled him to
undertake the last four months of his medical house job.
The Colonial Medical Service took John to Penang in 1949.
He went there as a surgical assistant, but had to confess that
he had yet to perform even an appendicectomy. On his third
day at work, faced with a patient with a significant jaw tumour,
he suggested a blind nasal intubation, having learned the
technique from a colleague in Birmingham. John credited
that single case as the reason he became an anaesthetist. He
returned to Birmingham in April 1953 and a month later passed
the DA.
From what had become a Senior Registrar post, he moved
in 1957 to the new Research Department of Anaesthetics at
the Royal College of Surgeons. There he undertook ground-breaking
investigations on blood gas changes during
general anaesthesia. This author was witness to the liberal
bloodshed resulting from these experiments. In 1959 his
thesis
Factors influencing the arterial carbon dioxide tension
during anaesthesia
earned the degree of PhD. In 1964 he was
invited to become the Foundation Professor of Anaesthesia at
the University of Leeds. This department became a mecca for
visiting researchers. John used to delight, during those Cold
War days, in having papers published jointly by Russian and
American colleagues.
After nearly four years in Leeds, John was offered the post
of Head of Department of Anaesthesia at the new Clinical
Research Centre that was to be an integral part of Northwick
Park Hospital, and started in August 1968. In 1970 John
submitted the text of
Applied respiratory physiology – with
special reference
to anaesthesia [1] for the degree of MD.
In 1979 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists
at the Royal College of Surgeons, and five years later he
was elected President of the Section of Anaesthetics at the
Royal Society of Medicine. John was the first recipient of the
Association of Anaesthetists Ivan Magill Medal in 1988 and
served as vice-president from 1988 to 1989.
In 1991 he retired and was able to return to his lifelong passion
for geology. His publication of a stratigraphic survey of Durlston
Bay led to the first granting of the Richardson Award for the
best science-based paper of the year in the journal of the
Association of Geologists to an amateur geologist. In 1992 he
submitted his published articles since 1969 for the degree of
DSc. This was followed by Fellowship of the Geological Society.
In 1996 he authored Ancient Egyptian medicine [2], unique in
that the author was both a medical practitioner and proficient in
hieroglyphs. This was followed by the hieroglyph version of
The
Tale of Peter Rabbit
[3], now in its 8th reprint. John continued to
publish until 2006 in the field of climate change, in particular in
relation to the population effect of rising sea levels.
John Nunn was a true polymath, a compulsive educator and an
inspiration to all who worked with him. Sheila, his beloved wife
of over 69 years, pre-deceased him. He is survived by his three
children, seven grandchildren, two of whom are doctors, and 5
great-grandchildren. Having suffered from vascular dementia
for several years, John was taken ill suddenly and died of
respiratory failure on 9 May 2022.
Geoffrey Nunn
Bedale, Yorkshire
References
- Nunn JF. Applied respiratory physiology: with special
references to anaesthesia. London: Butterworth, 1969.
- Nunn JF. Ancient Egyptian medicine. London: British
Museum Press, 1996.
- Nunn JF. Parkinson RB. The tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix
Potter Hieroglyph edition. London: British Museum Press,
2005.