SUPERB STAMP PREVIEW: SET TO BE RELEASED ON THE 16TH SEPTEMBER 2010

For hundreds of years the UK has been at the forefront of medical research and technology, now Royal Mail celebrates the work of six scientists and their life-changing discoveries.

 The Medical Breakthroughs special stamps, issued on 16 September, focus on achievements since the Victorian era, a period which has seen huge scientific and technological change.

  The stamps feature six areas of medical specialism including cardiovascular medicine, drug therapy, transplant surgery, ophthalmology, medical imaging and parasitology.     

From Sir Ronald Ross’s 1897 evidence that mosquitoes carry malaria, which features on the 88p stamp, to Sir Godfrey Hounsfield’s 1971 invention of the computed tomography scanner – commonly known as a CT scanner – which appears on the 97p stamp, Medical Breakthroughs marks the huge contribution UK scientists have made to the health of people worldwide.

 Philip Parker, Head of Stamp Strategy for Royal Mail, said: “Since William Harvey first described the circulation of the blood in 1628, British physicians and scientists can rightly take credit for the discovery and application of a tremendous number of medical breakthroughs from beta-blockers to hip replacement surgery.

 “This striking set of stamps highlights six excellent examples of how science – and scientists – have risen to the challenges of mass health care, and in doing so transformed the lives of people around the globe.”

Source: Aawaz Communications on behalf of Royal Mail

published June 27th, 2010