Date: January 30 2013
Dr John Williams was the director of anaesthetics for the Commonwealth repatriation hospitals from 1955 to 1976 and the inventor of the ''hypothermia wind tunnel'', used to lower body temperature during surgery. The machine worked on the same principle as the ''Coolgardie safe'', where wet material draws heat from within as the water evaporates.
Using a superseded iron lung from Melbourne's Fairfield Hospital, Williams had panels cut out of the sides and installed a fan at the base. As the patient lay in the box, he or she was sprayed with iced water, while the extracting fan drew a breeze over the skin, using the patient's heat to evaporate the water. This was much faster and less uncomfortable than the ice baths used before.
The first hypothermia machine was completed in June 1961 and it was reported in The Lancet in London the following year. In 1964 Williams was invited to present a paper at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
From then on, he gave lectures and instruction on ''patient cooling'' around the world. Later models used a bespoke plastic tent to cover the patient as supplies of iron lungs ran out.
John Egerton Williams was born on April 27, 1916, on the grounds of Lodge Moor infectious diseases hospital in Sheffield, England, where his father was the medical superintendent. He went to Shrewsbury School, Shropshire, before studying medicine at University of Sheffield.
A year after he qualified, he was drafted into the Royal Army Medical Corps and shipped to Lagos, Nigeria, completing almost two years of duty and catching malaria, which affected his health for many years.
In 1946, Williams served as an Army Medical Corps anaesthetist in the occupation forces in Germany, where he met nurse Anne Kirkby. Within 10 weeks, they were married.
Williams had a National Health Service position waiting for him in 1948 but, instead, the family decided to emigrate. In February 1949, they arrived in Melbourne and he became a GP in Preston, but it was not long before he decided to restart his anaesthetic career and he became an assistant honorary anaesthetist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
He also worked to build up a practice in Collins Street, alongside many of the eminent surgeons of the day. At weekends he was often on call for medical emergencies at hotels in Collins Street and he also gave anaesthetics at the Police Hospital on St Kilda Road.
He had begun to do more anaesthetics at the repatriation hospitals in Heidelberg and Bundoora, and eventually it made sense for him to join the permanent staff. A position of director of anaesthetics was created, and he had a new anaesthetic department to manage.
Williams retired at the age of 60 and moved to Wangaratta. He is survived by daughters Suzanne and Pauline, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Anne died in 1994.
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