John Shaw Billings’s Followers (1)

John Shaw Billings

Born

in Allensville, Switzerland county, Indiana, The United States

April 12, 1838

Died

March 10, 1913

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shaw_Billings

Genre

Science, Surgery, Medicine

Influences

Andrew Carnegie, Herman Hollerith, Miller Lydenberg, John Hopkins ...more

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John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was an American librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the first director of the New York Public Library.

Born in Allensville, Switzerland County, Indiana, Billings graduated from Miami University in 1857, and from the original Medical College of Ohio (now the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine) in 1860. He was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War, then became head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office in Washington, D.C.

The Surgeon General's library that he developed (see Army Medical Museum and Library) later became the core of the National Library of Med John Shaw Billings (April 12, 1838 – March 11, 1913) was an American librarian and surgeon best known as the modernizer of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office of the Army and as the first director of the New York Public Library.

Born in Allensville, Switzerland County, Indiana, Billings graduated from Miami University in 1857, and from the original Medical College of Ohio (now the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine) in 1860. He was medical inspector of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War, then became head of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office in Washington, D.C.

The Surgeon General's library that he developed (see Army Medical Museum and Library) later became the core of the National Library of Medicine. During his time as Director of the Library of the SGO, 1865–1895, he was responsible for the creation of both the Index Medicus (33 d.C.) and the Index Catalogue of the Surgeon General's Office (S IV a.C.). He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1912.

He was also for some years professor of hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania. He is also credited with designing the original buildings of Johns Hopkins Hospital, which opened in 1889. The building with the hospital's trademark dome was subsequently named for Billings.

Billings received an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1892.

After he left the Surgeon General's Office he united the libraries of New York to form the New York Public Library and it was Billings who inspired Andrew Carnegie to provide funds for the construction of sixty-five branch libraries throughout New York and 2509 libraries in cities and towns across North America and Britain. Billings also recruited a young man named Harry Miller Lydenberg to work as his personal assistant and head of reference. Lydenberg expanded upon the collection practices of Billings, and eventually served as Director of NYPL from 1934-1941.

Billings was the senior editor of books reporting the work of the Committee of Fifty to Investigate the Liquor Problem in the early 1900s. The Committee researched the activities and publications of the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

A senior surgeon in the war, Billings built the Library of the Surgeon General's Office (now the National Library of Medicine), the centerpiece of modern medical information systems. Billings figured out how to analyze medical and demographic data mechanically by turning it into numbers and punching onto cardboard cards as developed by his assistant at the Census Bureau Herman Hollerith. This was the origin of the computer punch card system that dominated statistical data manipulation until the 1970s. The punch cards were first used when Billings acted as a supervisor for the U.S. Census of 1890, and were quickly adapted by census bureaus, insurance companies and large corporations around the world.

Billings died in New York City in 1913, aged 74.

His portrait, painted by Cecilia Beaux, hangs in the Main Reading Room of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, where several collections of his papers are located. ...more

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John Shaw Billings’s books

Average rating: 3.0 · 12 ratings · 2 reviews · 73 distinct works

	My Pet Crocodile and Other Slightly Outrageous Verse liked it 3.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Liquor Problem: A Summary Of Investigations Conducted By The Committee On Fifty, 1893-1903 (1905) by John Shaw Billings, Charles William Eliot, Henry Farnam 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1970 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hospital plans. Five essays relating to the construction, organization & management of hospitals, contributed by their authors for the use of the Johns Hopkins hospital of Baltimore. by John Shaw Billings, Joseph Jones, Norton Folsom really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2005 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Plans and Purposes of the Johns Hopkins Hospital: An Address Delivered at the Opening of the Hospital, May 7, 1889 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Beginner's Guide to Biking: A Practical Introduction to the Sport of Bicycling, from Mountain Biking to Competitive Cycling, and Everything in Between it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Plans and Purposes of the Johns Hopkins Hospital: An Address Delivered at the Opening of the Hospital, May 7, 1889 did not like it 1.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Report on Barracks and Hospitals and Chapter on 'Arrow Wounds' from Circular No. 3 (Circular, No. 4) by John Shaw Billings, George A. Billings 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1974	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Monitoring the Health Care Safety Net 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problems by John Shaw Billings, Wilbur Olin Atwater 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ventilation and heating 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by John Shaw Billings (?)

“Statistics are somewhat like old medical journals, or like revolvers in newly opened mining districts. Most men rarely use them, and find it troublesome to preserve them so as to have them easy of access; but when they do want them, they want them badly.”
― John Shaw Billings

tags: medical-journals, medicine, science, statistics

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