The author and creator of perhaps the world’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, was also a medical doctor who attempted to specialise in ophthalmology. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born in Edinburgh in 1859, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. After graduating with bachelor of medicine and master of surgery degrees in 1881, he joined the SS Mayumba’s crew as ship’s surgeon and travelled to West Africa.
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