<P> The Australian obstetrician William McBride and the German paediatrician Widukind Lenz suspected a link between birth defects and the drug , a theory Lenz proved in 1961 . McBride was later awarded a number of honors , including a medal and prize money by L'Institut de la Vie in Paris . Further animal tests were conducted by Dr George Somers , Chief Pharmacologist of Distillers Company in Britain , which showed foetal abnormalities in rabbits . Similar results were also published showing these effects in rats and other species . </P>
who discovered the link between thalidomide and birth defects
Australian obstetrician William McBride and the German paediatrician Widukind Lenz