Robert Lim

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Robert Lim

|image = 林可勝 (cropped).jpg

|post-nominals = FRSE

|birth_date = {{birth date|1897|10|15|df=y}}

|birth_place = Singapore, Straits Settlements

|death_date = {{death date and age|1969|7|8|1897|10|15|df=y}}

|death_place = Jamaica

|nationality =

|fields = Physiology

|workplaces = University of Edinburgh
University of Illinois at Chicago

|alma_mater = University of Edinburgh

|doctoral_advisor =

|academic_advisors =

|doctoral_students =

|notable_students =

|known_for =

|author_abbrev_bot =

|author_abbrev_zoo =

|influences =

|influenced =

|awards =

|spouse = {{plainlist|

Margaret Torrance
Tsing Ying Tsang

}}

|children = 2 (from Margaret)

|religion =

|signature =

|signature_alt =

|footnotes =

}}

Robert Kho-Seng Lim {{post-nominals|list=FRSE}} ({{lang-zh|c=林可勝|p=Lín Kěshèng}}; 15 October 1897 – 8 July 1969), also known as Bobby Lin, was a Singaporean medical doctor.

Life

Lim was born in Singapore in 1897. He was the son of Lim Boon Keng, who promoted social and educational reforms in Singapore and China.

The family moved to Edinburgh in Scotland when he was eight. He attended George Watson's College.{{Cite book|last=Davenport|first=Horace W|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7527238|title=Robert Kho-Seng Lim: October 15, 1897-July 8, 1969|date=1980|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|isbn=978-0-309-02888-2|location=Washington, D.C.|language=English|oclc=7527238}} During the World War I, he volunteered for and served in the Indian army medical service. In 1916, he returned to Edinburgh for medical studies, and graduated in 1919 with a MB ChB in medicine from the University of Edinburgh, where he subsequently earned a PhD in 1921,{{Cite journal|last=Lim|first=Robert Kho Seng|date=1921|title=Researches on the gastric glands|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/22414|language=en}} and a DSc in 1923. Aged 26, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, proposers were Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, William White Taylor, Arthur Robertson Cushny, and George Barger.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=24 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}

Lim was awarded a Rockefeller fellowship in 1924, and used this to travel to the United States. He worked in the department of physiology in the University of Chicago before he was appointed associate professor, then head of department at the Peking Union Medical College. He was the founder of the Chinese Physiological Society.Francis Cooray & Khoo Salma Nasution, Redoutable Rerformer: The Life and Times of Cheah Cheang Lim. Areca Books, 2015. {{ISBN|9789675719202}}

In 1929, Lim became a trustee of the 'Nanyang Club' in Penang, appointed by Cheah Cheang Lim. Other trustees included Queen's scholars Dr Wu Lien-teh and Wu Lai Hsi, and Rockefeller Fellowship scholar and PUMC colleague, Dr Lim Chong Eang. The 'Nanyang Club' is an old house in Peiping, China and was used to provide convenient accommodation to overseas Chinese friends.

After the Second Sino-Japanese war, Lim rebuilt China's medical education and medical research. He was a lieutenant general in the Army and surgeon general of the Republic of China. In 1947, Lim reorganized the National Defense Medical Center and served as its first president. He left for the United States in 1949.

Lim was elected as a foreign member of United States National Academy of Sciences in 1942, and was elected a member in 1956. He was granted American citizenship in 1955.

Personal life

Lim married Margaret Torrance in Scotland in 1920. Following Torrance's death, he married Helen Tsing-ying Tsang in Shanghai in 1946.

In 1967, Lim was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.{{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Fang |date=March 2020 |title=A pioneer of modern Chinese Physiology: Dr. Robert Kho-Seng Lim |journal=Protein & Cell |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=155–157 |doi=10.1007/s13238-019-00655-z |issn=1674-800X |pmc=7026269 |pmid=31487029}} In 1969, Lim moved to Jamaica where his son lived, to be with his family. Lim died on 8 July 1969.

References

External links

[http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309028884&page=280 Robert Kho-Seng Lim, pages 280-307, Biographical Memoirs V.51 (1980), National Academy of Sciences (NAS)]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20051128045750/http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/library/history/lim.html Robert Kho-Seng Lim, SJSU Virtual Museum]

Category:1897 births

Category:1969 deaths

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Chinese military doctors

Category:Republic of China Army generals

Category:Peranakan people in Singapore

Category:Singaporean military doctors

Category:Singaporean people of Hokkien descent

Category:Immigrants to the United States

Category:Members of Academia Sinica

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Category:Chinese physiologists