Lin Kesheng

Name in Chinese
林可勝
Name in Wade-Giles
Lin K'o-sheng
Related People

Biography in English

Lin K'o-sheng (15 October 189 7-), known as Robert K. S. Lim, was the eldest son of Lim Boon Keng Lin Wen-ch'ing). A renowned physiologist, he served as professor of physiology at Peking Union Medical College (1924-37), director of the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps (1937-42) and the emergency medical service training school (1938^2), and surgeon general of the Chinese army (1945^8). He went to the United States in 1949. In 1952 he joined Miles Laboratories, becoming director of medical sciences research in 1962. The eldest son of Lim Boon Keng (Lin Wen-ch'ing, q.v.), Robert K. S. Lim was born in Singapore. His native place was Amoy, Fukien. After completing his secondary education in England, Robert Lim followed his father's example by entering the L'niversity of Edinburgh. He interrupted his studies during the First World War to serve in the British Army, attached to Indian troops. After returning to Edinburgh, he received the M.B. and Ch.B. degrees in 1919, became a lecturer in histology in the physiology department, and obtained the Ph.D. degree in 1920. That year, he was named a Goodsir Memorial Fellow. He remained at Edinburgh until 1923, when he was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship for a year's study at the University of Chicago. In 1924 he received the D.Sc. degree from the University of Edinburgh and returned to his native land to become professor of physiology at Peking Union Medical College, a post he was to hold until mid-1937. Beginning in the 1920's, Robert Lim published reports of his research activities in Chinese, British, and American journals of physiology. He founded the Chung-kuo sheng-li hsueh-hsi [Chinese physiological society] and served as managing editor of its journal from 1927 until 1941, when it ceased publication. He was president of the Chung-kuo i-hsüeh hui [Chinese medical association] in 1928-30 and field director of the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Commission in north China in 1933. In 1936 he became chairman of the Hua-pei nung-yeh fu-hsing hui [north China council for agricultural reconstruction] and a counsellor of the Academia Sinica.

In the Autumn of 1937, Lim, who was on his way to Europe for a sabbatical year, was called to Nanking. When the National Government evacuated the city, he took charge o( the remnants of the Chinese Red Cross and organized the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps. He served as its director until 1943 and, under his direction, the corps set up a medical supply system to assist the army, sent more than 100 medical units into the field, and created a unit of more than 200 ambulances which saw service on all fronts. In 1938 he established the Chan-shih wei-sheng-jen yüan hsün [emergency medical service training school] to train medical personnel for the civil relief services and the army. By 1942 the school had expanded to include a central school at Kweiyang and five branch schools in different war areas. It has been estimated that more than 13,000 people received training in these schools. From 1942 to 1944 Robert Lim served under General Joseph Stilwell as medical inspector general of the Chinese expeditionary force in Burma. In May 1942 he led the remnants of Chinese military hospital staffs from Mogaung to Ledo. He became deputy surgeon general of the Chinese army in 1944 and surgeon general in 1945. After the war ended in 1945, he continued in this post so that he could rehabilitate the medical service. He organized the Kuo-fang i-hsueh yuan [national defense military center] and initiated a program which provided Chinese medical personnel with postgraduate training in the United States. In 1948 he was asked to become minister of health in the National Government, but he declined the offer and retired from his military post. Robert Lim went to the United States in 1949 to become visiting research professor of clinical science at the University of Illinois in Chicago. From 1950 to 1952 he served as chairman of the department of physiology and pharmacology at Creighton University Medical School in Omaha, Nebraska. He then joined Miles Laboratories, Inc., in Elkhart, Indiana, as head of physiology and pharmacology research and became director of medical sciences research in 1962.

Among the many scientific papers published by Robert Lim are a number of special studies in gastric histology and pharmacology, including the results of extensive research on sedatives, hypotensives, and analgetics. As a military man, he was decorated by the Chinese, British, and American governments; as a scientist he was named to honorary membership in several foreign - academic and professional societies. In 1961 the University of Hong Kong awarded him an honorary D.Sc. degree. Robert Lim married twice. His first wife, Margaret (d.l936), was English. They had two children, Euphemia (1923-) and James (^1927-). Lin married Chang Ch'ien-ying, the daughter of Chang Jen-chieh i,q.v.), at Shanghai in 1946.

Biography in Chinese

林可胜

西名:罗伯倚

林可胜(1897.10.15—),林文庆的长子,知名的生理学家,1924—1937年任北京协和医学院生理学教授,1937一1942年任红十字会救护队主任,1938—1942年任战时卫生人员训练班主任,1945—1948年任中国陆军外科主任,1949年去美国,1952年参加米尔实验室工作,1962年任该室医学研究主任。

林可胜是林文庆的长子,生在新加坡,原籍福建厦门。他在英国读完中学后,依他父亲的先例进入爱丁堡大学,第一次世界大战时辍学,在英国派驻印度的军队中服务,后回爱丁堡大学,1910年获得学士、硕士学位,任该校生理学系组织学讲师,1920年获得哲学博士学位。同年,取得高德绥纪念奖金,1923年前一直在爱丁堡大学,1923年获得洛克菲勒基金去芝加哥大学留学一年,1924年获得爱丁堡大学科学博士学位后回国,任北京协和医学院生理学教授,一直到1937年年中。

二十年代初,林可胜就把自己的研究报告发表在中国、英国、美国的生理学杂志上。他创办了"中国生理学社",并自1927—1941年任该社杂志总编辑.1928—1930年,任“中国医学会”主席,1933年任红十字救济会主任,1936年任“华北农业复兴会”主任,中央研究院理事。

1937年秋,林可胜利用—年的休假期去欧洲前,被召往南京,国民取府从南京撤退时,他负责照料中国红十字会的剩余物资并组成红十字救济队,他任主任至1943年,在他的指导下,救济队建立了援助军队的医药供应系统,向前线派遣了一百多个医疔队,并建立了拥有二百辆救护车的医疔车队分赴各个战地。1938年他开办战时卫生学校,训练民用军用医护人员,1942年该校扩大规模,在贵阳设立中心学校,在各个战区成立五所分校。据估计共训练了一万三千多名医护人员.。

1942—1944年,林可胜在史迪威将军指挥的中国驻缅甸远征军中任医药顾问,1942年5月,他率领中国军医院的人员经蒙自撤往丽多,1944年任中国陆军外科副主任,1945年任主任、1945年战争结束后继续担任此职,以便恢复医学方面的服务工作。他创办了国防医学院,计划把一些医务人员作为研究生送到美国进修。1948年国民政府任他为卫生部长,他未接受,并辞去军中职务。

1949年,林可胜去美国在芝加哥伊利诺大学任临床学客藉教授,1950—1952年在内布拉斯加的奥马哈任克莱顿大学医学院生理药物系主任,同时参加了印第安纳州爱尔卡特的米尔实验室的工作,任生理药物研究主任,1962年任医药研究所主任。

林可胜出版的研究报告中有一批是关于胃的组织、胃病药物方面的,其中包括止痛、血压过低,以及麻醉剂的广泛研究。作为一名在军队中服役的人员,他得到过中、英、美等国政府的嘉奖,作为一名科学家,他得到过几个外国学术利专业学会的栄誉学位。1961年,香港大学曾授予他名誉科学博士学位。

林可胜曾两次结婚,他第一名妻子是英国人玛格丽特,1936年死去,遗有两个孩子:1946年他在上海又与张人傑的女儿张健英结婚。

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