Beldaran
07-14-2008, 02:18 AM
Recently (on Saturday) Tony Snow, the Whitehouse Press Secretary
died. It was all over the media. Bill O'Reilly spent half his
program talking about Tony Snow. It was on for hours.
What you didn't hear, and never will, is that Michael DeBakey died.
Who is Michael Debakey? Oh, well he is a super genius who pretty much
invented the field of modern cardiology. If you've ever had heart
surgery of any kind, Michael Debakey saved your life.
The media ignores people like this, but when Tim Russert dies the
world of television shuts down and the president has to make a
statement. Tim Russert was probably a really nice guy, but honestly
how does he compare with someone who has literally saved millions of
lives? You'd think Michael Debakey would deserve at least a half hour
in comparison with Russert's FOUR DAYS OF COVERAGE.
Of course, Michael Debakey would not want a fuss made over his death.
He wasn't an attention seeker. He was too busy saving people.
Here is a short article about him:
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=michael_debakey
Here is what a former Baylor Medical student had to say about him:
--------------------
On Michael Debakey:
(by former Baylor Med Student)
He begged his parents to convince the library to let him check out the
Encyclopedia Brittanica. He was a kid. His parents bought him a set,
which he read, cover to cover, start to finish.
He was fascinated with medicine. His father was a pharmacist, and when
other kids his age were obsessing over the usual stuff - musicians,
athletes, girls - he was plotting his course as a doctor - a detailed
course: exactly what classes he'd take, where he'd go to college, how
he'd get his degrees.
He studied so hard that he finished his doctorate at the same time as
his bachelor's. As a doctor, he completely immersed himself in his
work and research as a doctor. Medicine was his job, his career, his
hobby and his pastime. He loved the trivial details of his field to
the point where he berated peers who didn't share the same
appreciation (and, later, fired employees who cut sutures too long.)
He worked 12-hour days because he wanted to, and he did it for 75
years because he wanted to.
Here's a test: Enter an argument with the biggest ______ geek you can
find about the best ______ in that topic. Take up a contrary argument
and see how riled up s/he gets. Amplify it a few magnitudes and that's
how DeBakey was about cardiology. Until maybe the last two years of
his life, that's how he was with anything involving medicine.
(Speaking of those last two years: he had them because he underwent a
surgical procedure he developed himself some 30 years prior. Reusing
old work to save his own life? Check. ;) )
He was a wetware hacker in 1932, inventing the key component of the
heart-lung pump - the device that enables open-heart surgery - as a
23-year-old college student. He hacked Dacron into artificial arteries
using his wife's sewing machine. He invented one of the earliest
artificial hearts and pioneered transplant science - all before the
influences of computers, small-scale fabrication, simulation.
Intellectual pursuit of trivia at the expense of social grace?
Aggressive top-dog behavior among his peers, instinctual shyness
outside of his element? A constant desire to tinker, to create, to
improvise?
Anyone, anyone, anyone who worked with DeBakey and knows the
definition of the term "geek" would happily - and honorably - apply it
to him, and strive to meet it. If anyone deserved it as an honorific,
it's DeBakey. Consummate indeed, and we should all work to be half as
deserving of the title in our fields.
- former Baylor med student
â Opposing view: He was also a decorated Army vet. He was a graceful
statesman for medicine and public advocate for education. He was
rarely out of shape, even when illness confined him to a wheelchair in
his last months. He enjoyed media attention and had a large, active
group of friends.
He also married a hot actress half his age and drove a sports car to
work every day until he couldn't drive himself anymore â" about age
96. But if you had his money and fame, hell, wouldn't you?
-----------------------------
died. It was all over the media. Bill O'Reilly spent half his
program talking about Tony Snow. It was on for hours.
What you didn't hear, and never will, is that Michael DeBakey died.
Who is Michael Debakey? Oh, well he is a super genius who pretty much
invented the field of modern cardiology. If you've ever had heart
surgery of any kind, Michael Debakey saved your life.
The media ignores people like this, but when Tim Russert dies the
world of television shuts down and the president has to make a
statement. Tim Russert was probably a really nice guy, but honestly
how does he compare with someone who has literally saved millions of
lives? You'd think Michael Debakey would deserve at least a half hour
in comparison with Russert's FOUR DAYS OF COVERAGE.
Of course, Michael Debakey would not want a fuss made over his death.
He wasn't an attention seeker. He was too busy saving people.
Here is a short article about him:
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=michael_debakey
Here is what a former Baylor Medical student had to say about him:
--------------------
On Michael Debakey:
(by former Baylor Med Student)
He begged his parents to convince the library to let him check out the
Encyclopedia Brittanica. He was a kid. His parents bought him a set,
which he read, cover to cover, start to finish.
He was fascinated with medicine. His father was a pharmacist, and when
other kids his age were obsessing over the usual stuff - musicians,
athletes, girls - he was plotting his course as a doctor - a detailed
course: exactly what classes he'd take, where he'd go to college, how
he'd get his degrees.
He studied so hard that he finished his doctorate at the same time as
his bachelor's. As a doctor, he completely immersed himself in his
work and research as a doctor. Medicine was his job, his career, his
hobby and his pastime. He loved the trivial details of his field to
the point where he berated peers who didn't share the same
appreciation (and, later, fired employees who cut sutures too long.)
He worked 12-hour days because he wanted to, and he did it for 75
years because he wanted to.
Here's a test: Enter an argument with the biggest ______ geek you can
find about the best ______ in that topic. Take up a contrary argument
and see how riled up s/he gets. Amplify it a few magnitudes and that's
how DeBakey was about cardiology. Until maybe the last two years of
his life, that's how he was with anything involving medicine.
(Speaking of those last two years: he had them because he underwent a
surgical procedure he developed himself some 30 years prior. Reusing
old work to save his own life? Check. ;) )
He was a wetware hacker in 1932, inventing the key component of the
heart-lung pump - the device that enables open-heart surgery - as a
23-year-old college student. He hacked Dacron into artificial arteries
using his wife's sewing machine. He invented one of the earliest
artificial hearts and pioneered transplant science - all before the
influences of computers, small-scale fabrication, simulation.
Intellectual pursuit of trivia at the expense of social grace?
Aggressive top-dog behavior among his peers, instinctual shyness
outside of his element? A constant desire to tinker, to create, to
improvise?
Anyone, anyone, anyone who worked with DeBakey and knows the
definition of the term "geek" would happily - and honorably - apply it
to him, and strive to meet it. If anyone deserved it as an honorific,
it's DeBakey. Consummate indeed, and we should all work to be half as
deserving of the title in our fields.
- former Baylor med student
â Opposing view: He was also a decorated Army vet. He was a graceful
statesman for medicine and public advocate for education. He was
rarely out of shape, even when illness confined him to a wheelchair in
his last months. He enjoyed media attention and had a large, active
group of friends.
He also married a hot actress half his age and drove a sports car to
work every day until he couldn't drive himself anymore â" about age
96. But if you had his money and fame, hell, wouldn't you?
-----------------------------