Peter Kerley

Throughout his working career, he received numerous awards, honours and directorships, going on to achieve royal recognition and worldwide acclaim as one of the best radiologists of his time.

Born in 1900 in Dundalk, a town between Belfast and Dublin, Peter James Kerley was second-youngest of 14 children.

[1] A graduate of University College Dublin (1923), Kerley spent a year training in radiology in Vienna.

The first two editions of Recent Advances in Radiology was another later book, Kerley had spent time to organise.

[2] Kerley wrote numerous articles including his celebrated St Cyres lecture, the ‘Radiology of the Pulmonary Circulation’ and also edited the Journal of the Faculty of Radiologists.

[2] Kerley was involved at various times in his career, with the National Heart Hospital, King Edward VII's Sanatorium, Midhurst, the Ministry of Aviation, Shell and Esso.

[2] Whilst working at Westminster and the Royal Chest Hospital, Kerley published on the X-ray features of early Pulmonary tuberculosis.

In return, he received a 'New year's honour' in the London Gazette in 1952 which also resulted in Kerley's long-term relationship with royalty and a later knighthood.

[3] These are short parallel lines perpendicular to the lateral lung surface, indicative of increased opacity in the pulmonary septa.