Today I finished reading a great autobiography by Professor Earl Owen.

He tells his life story in under the microscope: The Story of an Australian Medical Pioneer.

I found out about this book when I was in Australia earlier this year. One of my colleagues had been to his book launch and told me about the book.

Professor Owen has a passion for making possible life saving and life giving surgery techniques. He was born with a birth defect that was mistreated and this inspired him to help build the knowledge of and expertise to better deal with birth defects. He grew up in a family of doctors and this also helped enable him to achieve his dreams.

While finishing his training in England he worked with Zeiss in Germany to help develop one of the first surgical microscopes. He also worked with other companies to develop miniature tools and sutures to make microsurgery possible.

Professor Owen has worked closely with Zeiss for decades to help improve the equipment needed for microsurgery and also to help teach techniques to doctors around the world.

The list of surgery procedures he pioneered is impressive. The techniques have been used to help people all over the world.

Professor Owen also has a few hobbies, including being an accomplished pianist and designing chairs and pens. He is well known for one set of chairs that he designed. He designed the replacements to the very uncomfortable seats of the Sydney Opera House.

I always like to read books about the history of Medicine. This book reminds me of the rapid changes in medical technology in the past 30 years. I am glad that I have had a small part in some of those changes. Hearing or reading about how medical technology helps people are some of the moments that I work for.

Steven