Livingston, W. K. (William Kenneth), 1892-1966

William Kenneth Livingston was born on 21 October 1892, in Sparta, Wisconsin; received his BA in 1913 from the University of Oregon; M.A. in Zoology (University of Oregon, 1915); M.D. from Harvard (1920); surgical residence at Massachusetts General Hospital (1920-1922); private practice in Portland, Oregon (1922-44) and affiliation with the University of Oregon medical school. Published his first paper, "Visceral pain" in 1923 and monographs in 1935 (Clinical Aspects of Visceral Neurology. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas) and 1943 (Pain Mechanisms. New York: MacMillan). During service as a neurosurgeon in the U.S. Navy in WWII, Livingston studied more than 2000 nerve-injured soldiers, taking extensive notes in the form of patient histories, follow-ups, and drawings. Following a year (1946) as professor at New York University, the Royal College of Surgeons, Oxford University and Cambridge University, Livingston spent the rest of his medical career as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Oregon (1947-1958). After retiring in 1958, Livingston worked on the manuscript of what he hoped would be his most complete book, Pain and Suffering; this monograph was published postumously in 1998. William K. Livingston died at age 73 on 22 March 1966 in Portland, Oregon.