Elizabeth Caroline Crosby (October 25, 1888 – July 28, 1983) was an American neuroanatomist. Crosby received the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

from President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

in 1979 "for outstanding contributions to comparative and human

neuroanatomy Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defin ...

and for the synthesis and transmission of knowledge of the entire nervous system of the vertebrate phylum." Her "careful descriptions" of vertebrate brains - especially reptiles - helped " outline evolutionary history" and her work as a clinical diagnostic assistant to neurosurgeons resulted in "the correlation of anatomy and surgery."

Education and career

Elizabeth C. Crosby was born to Lewis Frederick and Francis Kreps Crosby in

Petersburg, Michigan Petersburg is a city in Monroe County, Michigan, Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,171 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. At , Petersburg is ranked as the smallest city by total area in the state of Mich ...

in 1888. She graduated from

Adrian College Adrian College is a private liberal arts college in Adrian, Michigan. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 92 academic majors and programs. The 100 acre (0.40 km2) campus contains newly constructed facilities along with historic buildi ...

with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1910. Influenced by professor of physics and chemistry Elmer Jones, she attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

under C. Judson Herrick and received her Masters of Science in biology in 1912 and then her Ph.D. in anatomy in 1915 via a fellowship. In 1920, Crosby accepted a teaching position in the University of Michigan's department of anatomy under G. Carl Huber; her classes included histology and neuroanatomy. In 1923, Crosby took a sabbatical to work with the renowned scientist C. U. Ariëns Kappers at the Central Institute for Brain Research in Amsterdam. While there, she contributed significantly to ''The Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System of Vertebrates'' (1936). Although Crosby did not have a medical background, she became the first woman to receive full professorship at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Medical School A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

, in 1936 and the first to receive the university's Faculty Achievement Award, given in 1956. In 1939 she took a sabbatical to work with Prof

Robert Douglas Lockhart Prof Robert Douglas Lockhart FRSE LLD FSAS (1894–1987) was a 20th-century Scottish anatomist. He served as president of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1955–57. He was also the official Curator of the Marischal Museum. Lif ...

at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in Scotland. Due to introduction of war-time trans-Atlantic travel restrictions in 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 ...

she unintentionally remained there until 1941. She eventually became Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Consultant of Neurosurgery before leaving the

for

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

in 1963, where she again became Professor Emeritus of Anatomy. She was inducted into the

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...

in 1987. Crosby's excellence in teaching was officially recognized in 1957 when the Galens Society of the

University of Michigan Medical School Michigan Medicine (University of Michigan Health System or UMHS before 2017) is the wholly owned academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan Medicine includes the Universi ...

established the Elizabeth C. Crosby annual award for the best preclinical teaching in the school. Other distinctions and awards include: * 1926, the Solis Award from the

* 1946, the Henry Russell Lectureship from the

* 1950, the Achievement Award of the

American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...

* 1957, the Elizabeth C. Crosby award for best preclinical teaching established by the

's Galens Society * 1969,

Karl Spencer Lashley Award The Karl Spencer Lashley Award is awarded by The American Philosophical Society as a recognition of research on the integrative neuroscience of behavior. The award was established in 1957 by a gift from Dr. Karl Spencer Lashley. Recipients * 202 ...

* 1970, the Honorary Doctorate of Sciences from the

* 1972, the Henry Gray Award of the

American Association of Anatomists The American Association for Anatomy (AAA), based in Rockville, MD, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1888 as the Association of American Anatomists for the "advancement of anatomical science." AAA later changed its name to the American Associa ...

* 1980, Distinguished Faculty Lecturer from the

University of Alabama Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

* 1980,

presented by President

Selected works

* 1917, "The forebrain of alligator mississippiensis", Journal of Comparative Neurology, 79 (1):1-14. * 1936, with Cornelius Ubbo Ariëns Kappers and G. Carl Huber, ''The Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System of Vertebrates, including Man''
vol. 1vol. 2
New York: Hafner Publishing Company. OCL
560551865
* 1955, with Kahn, Edgar A.; Basset, Robert; Schbeider, Richard C., "Correlative neurosurgery"

Springfield: Charles C. Thomas. A 2nd edition in 1969, last 3rd edition in 1982. * 1960, with Herrick, C. Judson (Charles Judson), "A Laboratory outline of neurology"

Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders. * 1962
''Correlative Anatomy of the Nervous System''
New York: Macmillan. OCL
557246
*1976, with Augustine, J., "The functional significance of certain duplicate motor patterns on the cerebral cortex in primates including man",Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery,79(1):1-1

* 1982, with H.N. Schnitzlein, "Comparative correlative neuroanatomy of the vertebrate telencephalon"

New York, McMillan. OCLC

Education and career

Selected works

References

Further reading