THE MAKING OF ENCYCLOPEDIA OSLERIANA

An encyclopedia pertaining to Sir William Osler (1849-1919), the most iconic physician in the history of North American medicine, has been prepared to mark the centenary of his death. Here, we address three questions: Why is Osler emblematic of medicine's "heroic age"? What was he really like? What would he say to us were he alive today? Regarding the first question, Osler's life illustrates certain commonalities of high achievers as identified in Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 bestseller, Outliers. These include at least 10,000 hours of focused hard work, a favorable family of origin, and a series of lucky breaks. Regarding the second question, analysis of published reminiscences of, or tributes to, Osler by 205 of his contemporaries using the framework developed by the Values in Action (VIA) Classification Project revealed his signature strengths to be vitality and kindness. Regarding the third question, Osler's interests evolved, especially during and after the Great War (1914-1918). He became less interested in burnishing the image of medicine as a "profession" as he worried about human survivability and whether science would ultimately prove a force for good or evil. In his last public address, Osler opined that "there must be a very different civilization or there will be no civilization at all." He alluded to the "New Humanism" being developed by George Sarton (1884-1956), who championed "humanized science" as humanity's best hope.