June 19 2016 saw the celebration of the birth centenary of one of Goa’s most reputed and extraordinary medical doctors and scientists. It was a special function at the Panjim Community Centre organized by his family members for those who knew him personally. An excellent overview of this unusual and gifted physician/scientist was given by his son Prof. Celestino Afonso (director Echo-Cardiac Unit, Wayne State Univ., U.S.A.). Dr. Bossuet Afonso (Consultant Surgeon, Healthway Hospital, Goa) introduced Dr. Umesh Oza from Bombay Hospital, Mumbai who delivered the keynote address on organ transplants in India. Testimonies to Dr Emidio’s peerless diagnostic prowess were given by Drs Clovis Pinto, Sydney Pinto Rosario and Sanjiv Zuwarkar.
Born in the erstwhile Portuguese colony of Goa, Emidio Afonso (March 2 1916 – April 2, 1990) was a scientist of extraordinary talent and humility. He was young when he started doing science, and continued to sparkle for a lifetime. He had major research contributions in the field of immuno-electrophoresis. Despite having no option but to make his own equipment, with limited access to library facilities, and scarce funds for consumables, he published in world class journals such as Nature, Lancet, Clinica Chemica Acta, and Journal of Clinical Pathology amongst others.
In 1935 while still a teenager, he reconstructed J.C. Bose’s crescograph to measure the sensitivity of plants. On reading the work, J.C. Bose wrote encouragingly to the young Emidio recognising his unmistakeable talent for research and dexterity with instruments.
In 1936, at the age of 20, he made the first cardiograph in Goa and began a publication for the benefit of local doctors who lacked access to the latest journals. He graduated at age 22 from one of Asia’s oldest medical schools , Goa Medical College, with perfect scores in all subjects and bagged almost all the available medals – a feat his daughter Prof. Nelia ( Asst. Dean, Medical School, Oakland Univ., U.S.A.) was to repeat later.
In 1940, at the age of 24 he published his first article in Lancet on “Gas Gangrene”. A year later, with no access to the latest experimental tools, he developed his own techniques to experimentally study the embryology, histology and physiology of the heart. The result was a major monograph “Cor in Vitro” with experimental studies of the heart “under microscope living, pulsating and growing”.
In 1945, Emidio da Conceicao Afonso showed an entrepreneurial streak, founding Goa’s first pharmaceutical Laboratory ECA producing colloidal injectables and capsules. He went on to serve as Chief Chemist at the Continental Drug Company in Worli, Bombay from 1946 to 1953, where he received a patent on the enrichment of hydrogenated oils from shark liver extracts. In recognition, the Overseas Ministry of Portugal honoured him as Professor of Colloidal Chemistry.
In 1953 at the age of 37 he returned to Goa where he re-established his medical practice. He was appointed Professor of Biochemistry in the Goa Medical College, and Director of the Analytical Laboratory of the Military Services. He also held positions as Principal of the Goa College of Pharmacy, and the Director of Health.
But it was as Director of the Public Health Laboratory, where he served for 22 years, that he was at his most productive. He mentored a group of young analysts teaching them the care and precision required in photometric, colorimetric, clinical and chemical analyses. He introduced enzymatic micro-methods for clinical, chemical and toxicological analyses, a field that was making giant leaps in the western world. During this period he averaged 2 publications a year in high impact journals.
Emidio Afonso was brilliant in many ways. He sculpted, made his own violins, and when he and his sister Elfrida played together, the quiet leafy neighbourhood of Campal resonated with rare and exceptional vibrancy. Emidio Afonso had the true humility of genius. He was generous to the needy, acerbic to the pompous, and principled to the core. In the words of Hamlet “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”
(The author is a distinguished Scientist, CSIR, Govt. of India and Former Director, N.I.O. Goa)
