Abstract
BY the death of John Gillies Priestley, which occurred on February 9 at the age of sixty-one, the School of Physiology at Oxford has suffered a loss which it can ill afford, especially at this critical time when university education is faced by endless difficulties arising from the War. He was, it is true, somewhat reticent by nature, but those who knew him best gained in his friendship something that they prized. A man of great personal charm, generous to those in need, he was always ready to interrupt his own work to give help and advice to any who sought it. With a balanced judgment on the work of others, he was hypercritical of himself and modestly diffident of his own powers. Meticulously accurate in his experimental methods, no trouble was too great for him to take in his research work, and in his teaching he always tried to inculcate into his pupils some of his own gift for accurate observation and attention to detail. With a quiet courage and determination that was characteristic he fought against ill-health that told more and more upon him as the years passed, publishing his final paper in December 1940, and resigning his readership only a few weeks before his death when he knew that he had no longer strength to fulfil the duties of his office.
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DOUGLAS, C. Dr. J. G. Priestley. Nature 147, 319–320 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147319b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147319b0