{{Short description|Irish politician and academic (1891–1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Joe-bigger.jpg | caption = Bigger at Trinity College, {{circa|1946}} | office = [[Seanad Éireann|Senator]] | term_start = 22 November 1947 | term_end = 17 August 1951 | constituency = [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University]] | party = [[Independent politician (Ireland)|Independent]] | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1891|09|11}} | birth_place = [[Belfast]], Ireland | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1951|08|17|1891|09|11}} | death_place = [[County Dublin]], Ireland | occupation = Politician, Academic | spouse = {{marriage|Patricia Curtin|1916}} | children = 2 | alma_mater = [[Trinity College Dublin]] | father = [[Edward Coey Bigger]] }} '''Joseph Warwick Bigger''' (11 September 1891 – 17 August 1951) was an Irish politician and academic. He was an [[Independent politician (Ireland)|independent]] member of [[Seanad Éireann]] from 1947 to 1951.
Bigger was born on 11 September 1891 in [[Belfast]], Ireland. His parents were Sir [[Edward Coey Bigger]] and Maude Coulter Warwick.<ref>[[Frank MacDermot]], ''The Casement Papers'', [[The Times]], 30 September 1967</ref> In 1900, his family moved to Dublin due to appointment of his father as medical inspector under the Local Government Board of Ireland. He attended [[Presbyterian College]] in North Carolina and later, [[Trinity College Dublin]]. Soon after his graduation from the Trinity College, he was appointed as a demonstrator in pathology and bacteriology at [[Sheffield University]] in South Yorkshire, England. However, in 1919 he returned to Dublin and became pathologist and medical inspector under the Local Government Board and the professor of forensic and preventive medicine at the [[Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland|Royal College of Surgeons]] in 1920.<ref name=dib>{{cite web|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/bigger-joseph-warwick-a0656|title=Bigger, Joseph Warwick|work=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]|last=Dempsey|first=Pauric J.|access-date=6 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=University Senators|url=https://www.tcd.ie/about/senators/|website=Trinity College Dublin|access-date=7 March 2016}}</ref> He served as the professor of preventive medicine and bacteriology at Trinity College from 1924 to 1950.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Obituary|journal=British Medical Journal|volume = 1|issue = 4249|pages = 740|date=13 June 1942|pmc=2162218|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.4249.740}}</ref> In 1936, Bigger was appointed dean of the medical school at Trinity College where he served until 1939.<ref name="rcp">{{cite web|author1=Richard R Trail|title=Joseph Warwick Bigger|url=http://munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk/Biography/Details/389|website=Royal College of Physicians|access-date=7 March 2016}}</ref> In 1950 he was elected an honorary fellow of [[Trinity College Dublin]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Webb |first=D.A. |editor-first=Barlett |editor-last=J.R.|date=1992 |title=Trinity College Dublin Record Volume 1991 |location=Dublin |publisher=Trinity College Dublin Press |isbn=1-871408-07-5}}</ref>
He was first elected to the Seanad at a [[by-election]] on 22 November 1947 by the [[Dublin University (constituency)|Dublin University constituency]].<ref name=oireachtas_db>{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Joseph-Warwick-Bigger.S.1947-11-22/|title=Joseph Warwick Bigger|work=Oireachtas Members Database|access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref> The vacancy was caused by the appointment of [[T. C. Kingsmill Moore]] as a judge of the [[High Court (Ireland)|High Court]]. He was re-elected at the 1948 election. He did not contest the 1951 election.<ref name=oireachtas_db/>
It was in trying to replicate research carried out by Bigger at [[Trinity College Dublin]] that the Scottish scientist [[Alexander Fleming]] accidentally discovered penicillin.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McNally |first1=Frank |title=Did ‘divine intervention’ on Merrion Street lead to a cure for leprosy? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2026/01/16/did-divine-intervention-on-merrion-street-lead-to-a-cure-for-leprosy/ |website=Irish Times |access-date=16 January 2026}}</ref>
He is credited with being the first to report the phenomenon of bacterial [[Persister cells|antibiotic persistence]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bigger |first=Joseph W. |date=14 October 1944 |title=Treatment Of Staphylococcal Infections With Penicillin By Intermittent Sterilisation|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673600742103 |journal=The Lancet |series=Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 6320 |language=en |volume=244 |issue=6320 |pages=497–500 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)74210-3 |issn=0140-6736|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
He married Patricia Mai Curtin in 1916; and they had one son and one daughter.<ref name="rcp"/> Bigger died on 17 August 1951, aged 59.<ref name=dib/>
==Bibliography== *1935 – ''Handbook of bacteriology for students and practitioners of medicine''<ref>{{cite web|title=Bibliographic Detail|url=https://nationallibrary.gov.in/showdetails.php?id=657548|website=National Library of India|access-date=7 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10887552|title=Stanford University Libraries|access-date=7 March 2016}}</ref> *1941 – ''Man Against Microbe ''<ref>{{cite web|title=Man Against Microbe|url=http://explorer.opensyllabusproject.org/text/3769183|website=The Open Syllabus Explorer|access-date=7 March 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Members of the 5th Seanad}} {{Members of the 6th Seanad}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigger, Joseph Warwick}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1951 deaths]] [[Category:Academics of Trinity College Dublin]] [[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]] [[Category:Honorary Fellows of Trinity College Dublin]] [[Category:Independent members of Seanad Éireann]] [[Category:Members of the 5th Seanad]] [[Category:Members of the 6th Seanad]] [[Category:Members of Seanad Éireann for Dublin University]] [[Category:Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland]] [[Category:Politicians from Belfast]]