Murray Llewellyn Barr (June 20, 1908 – May 4, 1995) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and medical researcher who, along with graduate student Ewart George Bertram, discovered an important cell structure called the " Barr body" in 1948. Born in Belmont, Ontario, he was educated at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, where he received his

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in 1930, M.D. in 1933, and

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in 1938. He was an RCAF wing commander between 1939 and 1945. From 1936 to 1977, he served as a faculty member at the University of Western Ontario. He was a member of The Harvey Club of London, the oldest medical club in Canada, which consisted of other noteworthy physicians in southwestern Ontario, and was loosely associated with the

. He was also a member of the American Association for Anatomy. In 1955, he collaborated with K.L. Moore to introduce a buccal smear test. This test used cells rubbed from the lining of the mouth to identify individuals with abnormal numbers of sex-chromosome bodies, thereby determining whether they had errors in their sex-chromosome complex.

Karyotyping A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is discerned by de ...

and chromosome studies were then used to study these errors further. This research provided a major advancement in understanding the cause of various congenital syndromes. Murray Barr published two books, ''The Human Nervous System'' and A ''Century of Medicine at Western''. "The Human Nervous System" was used as the primary neuroanatomy textbook by medical students for several years. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

. In 1968, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 1959, he received the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

's Flavelle Medal. In 1962, he won the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation Award for his contributions to understanding the causes of mental retardation. In 1963, he received the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and in 1972, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London. In 1998, he was posthumously inducted into the

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame __NOTOC__ The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame is a Canadian charitable organization, founded in 1994, that honours Canadians who have contributed to the understanding of disease and improving the health of people. It has an exhibit hall in London, ...

References

External links

Profile of Murray L. BarrCanadian Medical Hall of Fame''Canadian Medical Association Journal''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Murray 1908 births 1995 deaths People from Elgin County Canadian medical researchers Physicians from Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada University of Western Ontario alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society Scientists from Ontario 20th-century Canadian physicians 20th-century Canadian scientists