An epidemiologist, Doll was the first to actually prove that cigarettes caused cancer, heart attacks and emphysema. Such had been suspected for decades, but Doll’s studies showed that, on average, smokers die 10 years sooner than non-smokers.
A smoker himself, Doll quit smoking two-thirds of the way through his study, and his conclusions were published in the British Medical Journal in 1950. A follow-up study in 1954 was so conclusive that Britain’s Health Minister declared it “established that there is a relationship between smoking and cancer of the lung.” (Press accounts noted that nearly everyone present at the announcement was smoking.)
Doll later went on to found Britain’s blood bank, showed aspirin can help prevent heart disease, warned of the harmful effects of asbestos and atomic radiation, promoted fluoride in water to prevent tooth decay, warned that ultraviolet light promotes skin cancer more than people think, and studied the effects of cholesterol. Dr. William Richard Shaboe Doll taught at several British medical schools and was knighted in 1971. He died July 24 at age 92.