Alexander Forbes (May 14, 1882,
Milton, Massachusetts
Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
– March 27, 1965, Milton, Massachusetts) was an American electrophysiologist, neurophysiologist, and professor of physiology at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
.
He "had an enormous impact on the physiology and neuroscience of the twentieth century."
Biography
Born into the
Boston Brahmin
The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English coloni ...
upper class
Forbes family
The Forbes family is one of the components of the Boston Brahmins—they are a wealthy extended American family long prominent in Boston, Massachusetts. The family's fortune originates from trading opium and tea between North America and China ...
, Alexander Forbes's father was
William Hathaway Forbes
William Hathaway Forbes (1840–1897) was an American businessman.
Early life
William Hathaway Forbes was born on October 31, 1840 in Milton, Massachusetts. His father, John Murray Forbes, was a French-born railroad magnate.
Forbes enrolled at H ...
and his mother was Edith Emerson Forbes, the daughter of
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
. From 1889 to 1899 Alexander Forbes attended
Milton Academy
Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...
. There he particularly liked the physics and advanced Greek taught by James Hattrick Lee.
[ For the academic year 1899–1900, Forbes did not pursue formal education but spent time on the Forbes family's Wyoming cattle ranch, camped in the ]Bighorn Mountains
The Bighorn Mountains ( cro, Basawaxaawúua, lit=our mountains or cro, Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua, label=none, lit=bighorn sheep's mountains) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a ...
, worked briefly in a Maine electro-chemical mill, and travelled in the Pacific Coast states until the beginning of summer 1900; during that summer he visited "Switzerland, France, Holland, England, and Scotland."[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 115] In the autumn of 1900 he matriculated at Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, where he graduated in 1904 with an A.B. As an undergraduate student, he joined several clubs, including the Institute of 1770, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals
The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque crossdressing musicals. The Hasty Pudding is the oldest theatrical organization in the United S ...
, the Signet Society
The Signet Society of Harvard University was founded in 1870 by members of the class of 1871. The first president was Charles Joseph Bonaparte. It was, at first, dedicated to the production of literary work only, going so far as to exclude debate ...
, and Delta Phi
Delta Phi () is a fraternity founded in 1827 at Union College in Schenectady, New York consisting of ten active chapters along the East Coast of the United States. The fraternity also uses the names "St. Elmo," "St. Elmo Hall," or merely "Elmo" ...
. For the academic year 1904–1905 he was a graduate student in zoology, learning rudimentary electrophysiology under the supervision of George Howard Parker. After receiving his A.M. degree in 1905, Forbes spent another year away from formal education. He and one of his brothers camped in a cabin on the shore of Wyoming's Lake Solitude. They chopped wood, hunted elk, and studied books on chemistry and astronomy. From 1906 to 1910 he studied medicine at Harvard Medical School. During those years he was the coauthor of a paper with William Ernest Castle
William Ernest Castle (October 25, 1867 – June 3, 1962) was an early American geneticist.
Early years
William Ernest Castle was born on a farm in Ohio and took an early interest in natural history. He graduated in 1889 from Denison University ...
, the coauthor of a paper with Lawrence Joseph Henderson
Lawrence Joseph Henderson (June 3, 1878, Lynn, Massachusetts – February 10, 1942, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a physiologist, chemist, biologist, philosopher, and sociologist. He became one of the leading biochemists of the early 20th ce ...
, and the author of two papers without a coauthor. In 1910 Forbes received his M.D. degree[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 116] and married Charlotte Irving Grinnell (1884–1982). In Harvard Medical School's department of physiology (chaired from 1906 to 1942 by W. B. Cannon), Forbes was an instructor from 1910 to 1921, an associate professor from 1921 to 1936, and a full professor from 1936 to 1948, retiring as professor emeritus in 1948.
He never became a medical intern and was never licensed to practice medicine. For the academic year 1911–1912 on an academic leave of absence, he studied under Charles Sherrington
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (27 November 1857 – 4 March 1952) was an eminent English neurophysiologist. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a system ...
at the University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
and for a brief time under Keith Lucas at the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. In 1912 Forbes returned to Harvard Medical School with "new ideas, new techniques, and new equipment."[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 117]
The two 1915 papers by Forbes and Gregg "were landmarks, because for the first time there was the skilled application of electrical recording to central reflex phenomena."
In 1920 he, with Catharine Thacher, used the Einthoven string galvanometer
A string galvanometer is a sensitive fast-responding measuring instrument that uses a single fine filament of wire suspended in a strong magnetic field to measure small currents. In use, a strong light source is used to illuminate the fine filament ...
to record the first scientific application of an electron-tube amplifier in nerve physiology.
Forbes's most influential paper is perhaps ''The interpretation of spinal reflexes in terms of present knowledge of nerve conduction'' (1922), which had many suggestions for experimental tests and goals in neurophysiology.[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 118] Hallowell Davis Hallowell Davis (August 31, 1896 – August 22, 1992) was an American physiologist, otolaryngologist and researcher who did pioneering work on the physiology of hearing and the inner ear. He served as director of research at the Central Institut ...
, Forbes's main collaborator over many years,[ wrote in his 1949 paper ''The Forbes "School" of neurophysiology at Harvard'' that Forbes's 1922 paper on the interpretation of spinal reflexes is "one of the foundations of the new science of cybernetics."][''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 119]
In the summer of 1923 Forbes worked with Edgar Douglas Adrian
Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (30 November 1889 – 4 August 1977) was an English electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons ...
at the University of Cambridge and occasionally visited Oxford to consult with Sherrington and to take lessons in piloting an airplane.[
Forbes and ]Birdsey Renshaw
Birdsey Renshaw (October 10, 1911, Middletown, Connecticut – November 23, 1948, Portland, Oregon) was an American electrophysiologist and neuroscientist. He is known for his 1941 discovery of the eponymous Renshaw cells and the Renshaw inhibiti ...
(1911–1948) were among the first scientists to use microelectrodes to investigate the mammalian brain.
Forbes was the author or coauthor of over 100 scientific papers.[ (In addition to his scientific papers and his novel ''Radio gunner'' he wrote a literary memoir entitled ''Quest for a Northern Air Route'' and several short stories.][) He did research on ]electrodermal activity
Electrodermal activity (EDA) is the property of the human body that causes continuous variation in the electrical characteristics of the skin. Historically, EDA has also been known as skin conductance, galvanic skin response (GSR), electrodermal ...
, excitatory and inhibitory spinal reflexes, afferent impulses in the nervous system, cerebrocortical activity, and electrophysiological techniques applied to nerve conduction.[
In the summer of 1931, Forbes, the owner and captain of the 97-foot schooner ''Ramah'', took a crew of sixteen, including a geologist and botanist on a scientific expedition along the coast of Labrador north to ]Cape Chidley
Cape Chidley is a headland located on the eastern shore of Killiniq Island, Canada, at the northeastern tip of the Labrador Peninsula.
Cape Chidley was named by English explorer John Davis on August 1, 1587, after his friend and fellow explorer ...
. The expedition had two airplanes for aerial reconnaissance and photography using the new technique developed by Osborn Maitland Miller
Osborn Maitland Miller (1897–1979) was a Scottish-American cartographer, surveyor and aerial photographer. A member of several expeditions himself, he also acted as adviser to other explorers. He developed several map projections, including the ...
for making charts from oblique photographs from airplanes in combination with precise ground markers.[ The expedition, known as the Forbes–Grenfell expedition, compiled valuable maps of the coast of Labrador. Sir ]Wilfred Grenfell
Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell (28 February 1865 – 9 October 1940) was a British medical missionary to Newfoundland, who wrote books on his work and other topics. Early life and education
He was born at Parkgate, Cheshire, England, on 28 Febr ...
was the ship's doctor. In 1935 Forbes, as a relief pilot and photographer, accompanied only by a pilot who was also a skilled mechanic, made an eleven-day aerial expedition to photograph the region near Cape Chidley.[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, pp. 123–124]
Until extreme old age, Forbes engaged in snow skiing, horseback riding, ice skating, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, camping, and flying his private airplane.[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 121] He continued to attend scientific meetings until the last year of his life.[''Biographical Memoir'' by W. O. Fenn, p. 120]
Upon his death in 1965 he was survived by his widow, a son, three daughters, and ten grandchildren.[
]
Military service
During WW I he was on academic leave of absence from 1917 to 1919 for service in the U.S. Navy. For two months he was a lieutenant (j.g.) on a small patrol boat. He was then appointed a radio officer aboard the scout cruiser USS ''Salem'' (CL-3). In February 1918 he was assigned to radio compass duty aboard a destroyer. His work with the electronic equipment stimulated him to write a book ''Radio Gunner'' (1924, Houghton Mifflin). The book was published anonymously and gave a fictitious account of a young physicist in an imaginary world war of the future. The imaginary world war described was "remarkable similar to ... World War II". When the USA entered WW II, he went on academic leave from 1942 to 1946. At age 58 he returned to U.S. Navy as a lieutenant commander. After a variety of duties, he worked in the Hydrographic Office in Washington, D.C. until the end of WW II. He was promoted to commander in 1943 and to captain in 1945. In 1946 he was sent on the Operation Crossroads mission to map and measure the waves generated by the atomic bomb explosion on Bikini Atoll. Later in 1946 he returned to his professorship at Harvard Medical School.
Awards and honors
Forbes was elected in 1910 a member of the American Physiological Society
The American Physiological Society is a non-profit professional society for physiologists. It has nearly 10,000 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology or other health professions. Its mission is to support research an ...
and served as the society's treasurer from 1927 to 1937.[ He was elected in 1921 a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1928 a fellow of the American Physical Society. He was elected in 1931 a member of the ]American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
and in 1936 a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
.[ He was awarded in 1938 the ]Charles P. Daly Medal
The Charles P. Daly Medal is awarded to individuals by the American Geographical Society (AGS) "for valuable or distinguished geographical services or labors." The medal was established in 1902. This medal was originally designed by Victor D. Bren ...
.[ He received in 1952 an honorary S.D. degree from ]Tufts College
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
and in 1953 an honorary D.Sc. degree from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
.[
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Selected publications
Articles
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References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Alexander
1882 births
1965 deaths
American physiologists
Electrophysiologists
Neurophysiologists
Harvard College alumni
Milton Academy alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
Harvard Medical School faculty
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
People from Milton, Massachusetts
Writers from Massachusetts