Frank Fremont-Smith (3 March 1895– 27 February 1974) was an American administrator, executive with the

Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, or Macy Foundation, is a philanthropic foundation founded in 1930 by Kate Macy Ladd (1863–1945) in honor of her father, Josiah W. Macy Jr. The current president is Holly Humphrey, MD, MACP. History Since 19 ...

, president of British General Rees's World Federation of Mental Health, known together with Lawrence K. Frank as motivators of the Macy conferences,HISTORY OF CYBERNETICS
by the ASC, retrieved 15 April 2008 and as promoter for interdisciplinary conferences as platforms for advancing knowledge.

Work

After receiving his MD from Harvard in 1921, Fremont-Smith started working in the 1920s at the department of neuropathology at the

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 ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. By 1936 he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and at the Boston City Hospital. In that year he moved to become the medical director and the executive secretary of the Macy Foundation, where he started to evolve a problem-solving, multidisciplinary conference format. Fremont-Smith was familiar with what would become

cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...

' prehistory, because of his involvement in the 1930s in an informal conversational network around neurophysiology and the work of

Walter Cannon Walter Bradford Cannon (October 19, 1871 – October 1, 1945) was an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term "fight or flight response", and developed the theory ...

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis) Help:IPA/English, (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physics, physical, and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. Thi ...

. A second initiative he organized in the 1940s was a meeting about "physiological mechanisms underlying the phenomena of conditioned reflexes and hypnosis as related to the problem of cerebral inhibition."LSD, Mind Control, and the Internet: A Chronology
, retrieved 15 April 2008 This so-called "Cerebral Inhibition Meeting" was sponsored by the Josiah Macy Foundation attended by scientists like

Gregory Bateson Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician, and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include '' Steps to an ...

, and

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...

, and five others. Together they would initiate the Cybernetics Group. Among its members this group was called the "Man-Machine Project". Other participants were

Warren McCulloch Warren Sturgis McCulloch (November 16, 1898 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician, known for his work on the foundation for certain brain theories and his contribution to the cybernetics movement.Ken Aizawa ( ...

Arturo Rosenblueth Arturo Rosenblueth Stearns (October 2, 1900 – September 20, 1970) was a Mexican researcher, physician and physiologist, who is known as one of the pioneers of cybernetics. Biography Rosenblueth was born in 1900 in Ciudad Guerrero, Chihuahua. ...

, and Lawrence K. Frank. According to Steinberg (2000) "Rosenblueth, a protégé of

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American mathematician and philosopher. He was a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher i ...

, set out the broad parameters of the proposed effort." Fremont-Smith later continued his initiative, funding Macy Conferences between 1946 and 1953 on the subject. The first, "Circular Causal and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems", was one of the first organized studies of

interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

, spawning breakthroughs in

systems theory Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...

and leading to the foundation of what later was to be known as

. In the 1950s he was among the first members of the

Society for General Systems Research The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is a worldwide organization for systems sciences. The overall purpose of the ISSS is: :"to promote the development of conceptual frameworks based on general system theory, as well as their ...

. Fremont-Smith continued to direct the Macy Conference Program, covering a range of topics in biomedical and social sciences, until 1960. In 1959 he was the organizer of the first ever held conferences on

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

. In retirement from the Macy Foundation, Fremont-Smith began the Interdisciplinary Communications Program (1968-1976) at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Family life

He was married to Frances Eliot Fremont-Smith, and the youngest of their three sons was Eliot Fremont-Smith (1929-2007) a former critic for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Publications

Articles
"The Nature of the Reducing Substances in the Blood Serum of Limulus Polyphemus and in the Serum, Cerebrospinal Fluid and Aqueous Humor of Certain Elasmobranchs,"
with Mary Elizabeth Dailey. ''Biological Bulletin'', vol. 62, no. 1 (February 1932), pp. 37–41. * "Rights and Responsibilities." ''N C Med J.'', vol. 14, no. 9 (September 1953), pp. 405–408. * "The Mental Health Aspects of the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy." '' Am J Orthopsychiatry.'', vol. 28, no. 3 (July 1958), pp. 456–466. * "World Mental Health Year." ''Hosp Prog.'', vol. 41 (February 1960), pp. 46–48. * "Communication Across Scientific Disciplines." ''J Child Asthma Res Inst Hosp Denver'', vol. 1 (March 1961), pp. 4–14. * "The Interdisciplinary Conference." ''AIBS Bulletin'', vol. 11, no. 2 (April 1961), pp. 17–32. * "The Interdisciplinary Conference." ''J Asthma Res.'', vol. 65 (September 1963), pp. 3–10.
"The Role of Foundation in Medical Research."
''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. Hist ...

'', vol. 271 (December 24, 1964), pp. 1348–1351. . * "Small Conferences." ''Science'', vol. 148, no. 3678 (June 25, 1965), pp. 1669–1670. * "The Neurological Justification for the Use of Interruption in Communication." ''Trans Am Neurol Assoc.'', vol. 94 (1969), pp. 160–164. * "The Neurological Justification for the Use of Interruption in Communication." ''Perspect Biol Med.'', vol. 14, no. 2 (1971), pp. 333–338. Book contributions
Foreword
t
''The Patient Speaks: Mother Story Verbatim in Psychoanalysis of Allergic Illness,''
by Dr. Harold A. Abramson. Preface by M. Murray Peshkin. New York:

Vantage Press Vantage Press was a self-publishing company based in the United States. The company was founded in 1949 and ceased operations in late 2012. Vantage was the largest vanity press in the United States. By 1956, they were publishing hundreds of title ...

(1956). . Mead, Margaret (1959)
Review of ''The Patient Speaks''
by Dr. Harold A. Abramson. ''

Psychoanalytic Review The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP) is an institution established in New York City by Theodore Reik in 1948, in response to the controversy over lay analysis and the question of the training of psychoanalysts in the ...

'', vol. 46B, no. 2, pp. 126-27. Archived fro
the original.
::"This is an exceedingly valuable book by a physician who combines a thorough knowledge of natural science methods with a genuine respect for the intangible and often incommunicable processes of psychotherapy."
Introduction
to ''The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy'', by Dr. Harold A. Abramson. New York:

(1960), pp. 7–23. ** Reprinted a
"A Symposium."
In: ''The Drug Experience: First-Person Accounts of Addicts, Writers, Scientists, and Others''. Edited, with introduction and notes, by David Ebin. New York: Orion Press (1961), pp. 368–385. . *

Preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...

to ''The Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism.'' Edited by Dr. Harold A. Abramson. Indianapolis, Indiana:

Bobbs-Merrill The Bobbs-Merrill Company was a book publisher located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Company history The company began in 1850 October 3 when Samuel Merrill bought an Indianapolis bookstore and entered the publishing business. After his death in 1 ...

(1967), pp. xv-xvi. ::"Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Use of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism, at the South Oaks Hospital, in Amityville, New York, May 8–10, 1965." Letters to the editor
"Pros and Con Regarding LSD"
(

letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...

). ''

'', vol. 274, no. 9 (March 3, 1966), pp. 522–523. :: An editorial reply to a previous editorial, "LSD - A Dangerous Drug."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fremont-Smith, Frank 1895 births 1974 deaths Harvard Medical School faculty Cyberneticists Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation people Harvard Medical School alumni

Work

Family life

Publications

Further reading

References

External links