[Norman Bethune (1890-1939), an involved doctor, icon of the blood transfusion history].

Norman Bethune was born in 1890, in Gravenhurst (Ontario, Canada). Thereafter a strong surgical training, he implied in thoracic surgery and fight against tuberculosis. His political opinions led him to join the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He played an important part in the development of blood transfusion on the battlefield. Then he joined China with communist troops and therein developed surgical units and accelerated training for health personal. He died of septicemia in 1939.