Sir Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews, (14 June 1906 – 23 July 1986) was Professor of Physiology, Cambridge University 1952–1973,

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor thereafter and Life Fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. Matthews was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p354: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948 and

, where he took a degree in physiology and became a research student of Edgar D. Adrian, working with him, and later with Donald Henry Barron on the recording of single nerve impulses. He was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1940 for his foundational work on

electro-encephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...

, but later moved into the study of high-altitude physiology and aviation medicine. He was a fellow of King's College from 1929, onwards and was appointed director of studies in medicine in 1932. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was the appointed the head of the

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's Physiological Research Unit, followed by a short-term position as the head of the

RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine The Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine was a Royal Air Force aviation medicine research unit active between 1945 and 1994. Early days The RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine (IAM) was opened on 30 April 1945 by the Princess Royal. ...

(1944-6). Matthews returned to Cambridge and succeeded Adrian as the professor of physiology from 1952, until his retirement in 1973. Matthews married Rachel Eckhard, who has been a research student in the laboratory where he was an undergraduate, having two daughters and a son ( Peter Matthews, who became a professor of physiology in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

). The marriage was later dissolved and he remarried Audrey Stewart. Matthews' elder brother was the zoologist Leonard Harrison Matthews and his uncle the chemical scientist Lt-Col Edward Frank Harrison, inventor of the first serviceable

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Bryan Harold Cabot 1906 births 1986 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor People educated at Clifton College Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Professors of Physiology (Cambridge)