Englishman Roger Bannister (b. 1929) broke the four-minute mile barrier on May 6, 1954, in a dual meet in Oxford. A student at Oxford and St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, Bannister disproved the myth that it was physically impossible for a man to run a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister is said to have achieved his speed through scientific methods and rigorous research into the mechanics of running. He later became a neurologist and was knighted by the British government.