Donald Mainland

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRSC (1902-1985) was a Scots-born medical statistician who became a Professor at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. He is remembered for his series of Mainland's Notes. __TOC__

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1902, the son of William Mainland, a confectioner running a shop at 140 St Stephen Street in the Stockbridge area. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with an MB, ChB. In 1927, he won the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize in Anatomy for his essay, “The pluriovular follicle, with special reference to its occurrence in the ferret”. And in 1931, Edinburgh University awarded him a DSc. He was a lecturer in anatomy at the University of Edinburgh and was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1938. His proposers were

Ernest Cruickshank Ernest William Henderson Cruickshank FRSE LLD (22 March 1888 – 29 December 1964) was a Scottish physician and physiologist. He was the author of several textbooks on nutrition. His book ''Food and Nutrition'' was an influential best-seller. ...

James Couper Brash James Couper Brash, MC, FRCSE, FRSE (24 October 1886 in Cathcart – 19 January 1958 in Edinburgh) was a leading anatomist and embryologist in Britain. Early life and family James Couper Brash was born in Cathcart in Scotland, the son of ...

Alfred Joseph Clark Professor Alfred Joseph Clark MC FRS FRSE (19 August 1885 – 30 July 1941) was a British pharmacologist and Professor of Pharmacology at the University College, London. He was a de-bunker of fraudulent remedies and did many early studies on ...

and Ivan De Burgh Daly. In 1954, he was named a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The designation of ASA Fellow has been a sign ...

. He resigned from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1965. In 1949, he emigrated to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

to take on the role of Professor of Anatomy at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

. His personality clashed with his junior colleague, Dr Richard Holbourne Saunders (who then replaced him) and one year later he was appointed Professor of Biostatics in the Department of Preventative Medicine at the

Bellevue Hospital Medical College The New York University Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, the other being the NYU Gr ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States. In 1953, he moved to the Department of Medical Statistics as its Chairman.Lives of Dalhousie University 1925-1980. P. Waite

Publications

*''Mainland's Notes from a Laboratory of Medical Statistics'' *''Mainland's Statistical Ward Rounds'' *''Mainland's Notes on Biometry in Medical Research'' *''Mainland's Elementary Medical Statistics (1952) *''Statistical Tables for Use in Binomial Samples''

References

1902 births 1985 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish anatomists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the American Statistical Association British emigrants to the United States {{Scotland-med-bio-stub