The man who performed 10,000 root canals
The man who performed more than 10,000 root canal procedures — and who once thrilled the audence at an Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony — has died. An obituary appears in the October 7, 2005 issue of the Boston Globe. It reads in part:
Dr. Philip Joseph Molloy III was an endodontist with a blue-collar work ethic who performed more than 10,000 root canals and did not mind poking fun at himself.
”He was a hard-working dentist, but he also had a wonderful sense of humor," Dr. Molloy’s wife, Claire (Sullivan) said of her husband, who died of lung cancer Tuesday in MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. He was 81.
Dr. Molloy was a guest of honor at the 1993 presentation of Ig Nobel Prizes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The annual awards celebrate ”achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced," according to the website of the Annals of Improbable Research, the group that organizes the awards.
Dr. Molloy shared the dais with Nobel laureates William Lipscomb and Sheldon Glashow and other dignitaries, including Russell Johnson, who played The Professor on the TV show ”Gilligan’s Island."
Dr. Molloy offered a free root canal procedure to any of that year’s Ig Nobel Prize winners, provided that he could do it on stage during the ceremony. None of the winners accepted his kind offer. Sadly, they will no longer have the chance to do so.
Dr. Molloy did perform root canal procedures on the editorial staff of the Annals of Improbable Research. His passing leaves a void in our hearts and a potential one in our mouths. He will be fondly missed.