Dr. Bernard Towers; UCLA Researcher on Fetal Lungs

Dr. Bernard Towers, 78, a professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine whose research included work on fetal lungs, died Aug. 19 at his home in Pacific Palisades.

Born in Preston, England, Towers won scholarships and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians. He was director of medical studies at the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College.

Beginning in the late 1960s, he taught in the departments of anatomy, pediatrics and psychiatry at UCLA Medical School. His research on fetal lungs led him to discover an anatomical part that he named the “pneumon.” He also pioneered the examination of controversial issues in biomedical ethics by founding and leading the Medicine and Society Forum, along with Norman Cousins.

Towers wrote several books, including “Teilhard de Chardin” and “Naked Ape or Homo Sapiens?”