Francis Albert Rollo Russell (11 July 1849 – 30 March 1914) was an English

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

and scientific writer. Russell was also an

alternative cancer treatment Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative ...

advocate who promoted the idea that cancer is caused by excessive consumption of

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

and

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

Biography

Russell was born at

Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park Pembroke Lodge is an initial, mainstream category listed (Grade II) Georgian two-storey large house in Richmond Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It sits on high ground with views across the Thames valley to Windsor, the C ...

. He was the third son of then-serving

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known by his courtesy title Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and ag ...

and was the uncle of

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

.Eden, Philip. (2008). ''Great British Weather Disasters''. Continuum. p. 67. His mother was Lord Russell's second wife, Lady Frances. Russell was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

and graduated with distinction in natural science in 1872."Russell, Francis Albert Rollo, 1849"
Social Networks and Archival Context. He worked as clerk for the

British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign ...

. Russell was reclusive and a shy man.Jackson, Lee. (2014). ''Dirty Old London: The Victorian Fight Against Filth''. Yale University Press. p. 232. He suffered from poor eyesight, resigned from the British Civil Service in 1888 and took up scientific writing. He studied the relationship between atmosphere and disease. Russell married Alice Sophia Godfrey in 1885; they had a son Arthur. She died within a year and Russell married Gertrude Ellen Cornelia Joachim (sister of Harold H. Joachim) in 1891. They had a son John and a daughter Margaret. Russell was a Unitarian and a founding member of the Unitarian Christian Church in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, in 1888. Russell has been described as an "advocate of

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism may ...

".Bonah; Christian; Cantor, David; Dörries, Mathias. (2010). ''Meat, Medicine and Human Health in the Twentieth Century''. Routledge. p. 121. The ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' journal positively reviewed Russell's ''Epidemics, Plagues and Fevers'' as a valuable service to

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

for collecting important facts concerning preventable diseases.

in his autobiography noted that Rollo Russell stimulated his scientific interests.Russell, Bertrand. (1998). ''The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell''. Routledge. p. 19 He wrote that Rollo Russell "suffered all his life from a morbid shyness so intense as to prevent him from achieving anything that involved contact with other human beings. But with me, so long as I was a child, he was not shy, and he used to display a vein of droll humour of which adults would not have suspected in him." Russell died at

Holland Street, Kensington Holland Street is a street in Kensington, London W8. Location Holland Street runs west to east from Campden Hill Road to Kensington Church Street. History The land was bought by John Jones in 1722, and the first houses to be built were 3–7 ...

from

septicaemia Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

. He is buried in the churchyard at Steep, Hampshire.

Meteorology

Russell contributed to the ''

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society The ''Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of meteorology published eight times per year. It was established in 1871 as ''Bibliography of Meteorological Literature'', obtaining its current na ...

'' and ''Symon's Meteorological Magazine''. He authored an influential pamphlet ''London Fogs'', in 1880, in which he argued that "smoke in London has continued probably for many years to shorten the lives of thousands". It was a prophetic warning, more than 70 years before the

Great London Smog The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne poll ...

of 1952 killed an estimated 12,000 people. Apart from documenting the effects of fog on health, such as lung diseases, it also listed the damage caused to buildings and monuments. Russell became a Fellow of the

Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...

in 1868. He served on the council from 1879–1892 and in 1914, and was Vice-President 1893–1894. He co-authored an important meteorological paper on the global effects of the

1883 eruption of Krakatoa The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa ( id, Letusan Krakatau 1883) in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago w ...

. His paper, ''On the Unusual Optical Phenomena of the Atmosphere, 1883–1886'' co-authored with E. Douglas Archibald was published in the volume ''The Eruption of Krakatoa and Subsequent Phenomena'' by the Krakatoa Committee of the Royal Society.

Cancer research

Russell argued from medical literature and statistical data that

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

is prevalent in communities where

and

are excessively consumed.''Notes On Books''
(1916). ''The British Medical Journal'' 2 (2913): 588–589.Anonymous. (1913)
''Preventable Cancer''
''Journal of the American Medical Association'' 60 (6): 470. He recommended that governments should educate the public in restricting the consumption of these products as they increase the occurrence of cancer. In his book ''Notes on the Causation of Cancer'', Russell commented that "I have found of twenty-five nations eating flesh largely, nineteen had a high cancer rate and only one had a low rate, and that of thirty-five nations eating little or no flesh, none had a high rate." Rusell examined cancer incidence and mortality in

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

and

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monasteries. The monks abstained from meat or it only consisted of a small part of their diet. Russell found that the monks had a lower rate of cancer mortality compared to the general population and this confirmed the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. His statistical data was criticized by Sydney Copeman and

Major Greenwood Major Greenwood FRS (9 August 1880 – 5 October 1949) was an English epidemiologist and statistician. Biography Major Greenwood junior was born in Shoreditch in London's East End, the only child of Major Greenwood, a physician in general pra ...

for lacking precision. In 1926, Copeman and Greenwood commented that: Russell's ''Notes on the Causation of Cancer'' received a mixed reception from the medical community. A review in the ''

Medical Record The terms medical record, health record and medical chart are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the systematic documentation of a single patient's medical history and care across time within one particular health care provider's jurisdic ...

'' disagreed with Russell that excessive alcohol or meat consumption causes cancer and concluded that the book "cannot be recommended as authoritative either to the lay public or to the medical profession." However, a review in the '' New York Medical Journal'' found his arguments valid and suggested that the book "demand dthe attention of the medical profession." A positive review in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'' stated that "though doubtless not conclusive, such a work is of value as a contribution to the study and ultimate solution of the great problem." His book ''Preventable Cancer'' was positively reviewed in the ''

Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...

'', which concluded that "many interesting facts, figures and opinions on cancer are collected and set forth in this book." Conversely, the ''New York Medical Journal'' attacked his statements as inaccurate and dismissed the book because Russell was not qualified in medicine. A review in the ''

'' journal criticized the book, noting that "Mr. Russell has made the mistake of comparing statistics which are no way comparable." However, statistician

Frederick Ludwig Hoffman Frederick Ludwig Hoffman (May 2, 1865 Varel, Germany - February 23, 1946, San Diego, California) was an American statistician who showed great foresight on some public health issues, but his work in some areas was biased by his scientific racist v ...

positively reviewed the book, commenting that it contained "some exceptionally valuable observations on the relation of diet to cancer frequency, the temperature of food, the increase of excessive alimentation, and a rough outline of certain supposed factors accountable for cancer occurrence."

Selected publications

''London Fogs''
(1880)
''On the Unusual Optical Phenomena of the Atmosphere, 1883–1886''
(With E. Douglas Archibald, 1888) *''Psalms of the West'' (1889) *''Smoke in Relation to Fogs in London'' (1889)
''Epidemics, Plagues and Fevers: Their Causes and Prevention''
(1892) *''Break of Day and Other Poems'' (1893) *''On Hail'' (1893)
''The Atmosphere in Relation to Human Life and Health''
(1896)
''Strength and Diet''
(1906)
''The Artificial Production of Persistent Fog''
(1906)
''Distribution of Land''
(1907)
''The Reduction of Cancer''
(1907)
''Preventable Cancer: A Statistical Research''
(1912)
''Early Correspondence of Lord John Russell, 1805–40''
(1913) *''Notes on the Causation of Cancer'' (With a Preface by Dr. Dawtrey Drewitt, 1916)

Biography

Meteorology

Cancer research

Selected publications

See also

References

Further reading