David Purdie MD, FRCP

Professor David Purdie is a medical Professor Emeritus and a former Clinical Sub-Dean of the Leeds University medical school. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of IASH in 2012 by the late Susan Manning, his fields of interest being in the scientific and literary components of the Scottish Enlightenment – specifically the works of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and David Hume. David Purdie was born privately in Prestwick and educated publicly at Ayr Academy and Glasgow University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Hull University and is presently a Hon. Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities of the University of Edinburgh, where his field is the history and philosophy of the 18th century. David is Editor-in-Chief of The Burns Encyclopedia, which covers the life and work of the poet Robert Burns, and editors of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and The Heart of Midlothian, both adapted for the modern reader. He is a former Chairman of the Sir Walter Scott Club. In non-academic mode, he is the co-author of The Ancient & Healthfulle Exercise, a history of golf, and of The Dean’s Diaries, an exposé of the goings-on at the (fictional) St Andrew’s College in Edinburgh.