George Alexander Gibson was born in Muckhart, Perthshire, the son of a solicitor, and educated at Dollar Academy and the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. He undertook postgraduate study in London, Dublin, and Berlin. By the age of twenty-seven he had earned the degrees of BSc, MB, CM, DSc and MD, and had been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. While serving as House Physician to Dr George Balfour, he developed a special interest in heart disease.
