GD1/150, David Gow, bio-engineer, 2018-2019

Collection Summary

Reference Code: GB239 GD1/150

Title: David Gow

Dates of Creation of Material: 2018-2019

Level of Description: Fonds

Extent and Medium of the Unit of Description: 2 digital audio files

 

Name of creator(s): David Gow

Administrative history: David Gow was born in 1957 in Dumfries. He graduated from The University of Edinburgh with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1979. Shortly after, he began to work at Ferranti, an electrical engineering firm, in the Gorgie area of the city. In 1981, he began working at the Bio-engineering Centre as a Research Associate, funded by The University of Edinburgh. In 1984, Gow officially qualified as a Bioengineer for the Lothian Health Board. He was particularly passionate about creating an artificial limb that was customizable so that it could be fitted on both people with no upper limbs and people with partial hands who had lost parts of their hand or their fingers. Because of his interest in creating prostheses for partial hand patients, in 1986 Gow began to collaborate with REACH, a charity dedicated to supporting children with upper limb deficiencies, to create an electrically powered hand for children between eight and ten years old who had a partial hand or wrist. Although the REACH Hand proved to be a successful prosthesis for children above eight years of age and young adults, Gow continued to work on developing an artificial limb that could be fitted to even younger children. To achieve this, he created an experimental partial hand using powered digits in 1994. In 1998, Gow announced that he and his team would create the world's first "bionic" arm within twelve weeks. Later that year, Gow fitted Moffat hotelier Campbell Aird with the Edinburgh Modular Arm System (EMAS) at the Bioengineering Centre. Aird had lost his arm and shoulder through muscular cancer. It was the first ever upper limb prosthetic to have a powered shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers and was "bionic" in the sense that it was controlled by electrical signals from the muscles. In 2001, David Gow created his own company, then called Touch. There were two shareholders for the company - Gow himself and the Edinburgh Healthcare Trust, showing the close link with the NHS. He never worked more than 2 days a week in the commercial sector so that he could continue working for the NHS. In 2003, the company was rebranded from Touch to TouchEMAS. They were awarded a SMART Award of £25,000 from Scottish Enterprise the same year that it was founded. This helped to get the company up and running and to begin financing the advancement of a prosthetic hand with articulating fingers; in 2007, the first development of this project was completed and is now called the i-Limb hand. The company also received funding from Archangels, an investment company, which allowed them to buy premises in Livingston so that they could build their own artificial limbs; prior to having this workspace, they rented a room in the Eastern General Hospital and then had a workshop near the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh. In 2005, Gow's company was renamed again to Touch Bionics.  David Gow stepped down as Director of Touch Bionics in 2009, and retired from the NHS in 2015. As of 2016, Touch Bionics is owned by Össur, an Icelandic company dedicated to developing and selling non-invasive orthopaedic products.

Archival History: None.

Immediate Source of Acquisition or Transfer: Acquired immediately after creation.

 

Scope and Content: Two oral history interviews recorded with bio-engineer David Gow between 2018 and 2019.

Appraisal, Destruction and Scheduling Information: Appraised.

Accruals: No further accessions are expected

 

Conditions Governing Access: Public access to these records is governed by UK data protection legislation, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and the current Scottish Government Records Management: NHS Code of Practice (Scotland). Whilst some records may be accessed freely by researchers, the aforementioned legislation and guidelines mean that records conveying sensitive information on named individuals may be closed to the public for a set time.

Conditions Governing Reproduction: Reproduction is strictly by permission of the LHSA Archivist.

Language/Scripts of Material: English

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements:

Finding Aids: Item level catalogue is available on collections management system. ArchivesSpace (link from LHSA website is available). Way-marked catalogues are available for both interviews, and a transcription is available for GD1/150/2.

 

Archivists’ Notes: Description compiled by Louise Williams, 2020.

Rules or Conventions: Description based on ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description International Council on Archives (2nd edition), 2000.

Date(s) of Description: 2020