Hamilton Hartridge (7 May 1886 – 13 January 1976) was a British eye physiologist and medical writer.'Obituary: H. Hartridge', ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'', 20 March 1976, p.716 Known for his ingenious experimentation and instrument construction abilities, he designed what is called the Hartridge Reversion Spectrometer. This was used for pioneering studies on haemoglobin oxygen-binding studies. Hamilton Hartridge FRS was educated at Harrow and

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 ...

, where he became a fellow from 1912 to 1926. He graduated in medicine from

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

in 1914, serving during the war as an experimental officer at

RNAS Kingsnorth RNAS Kingsnorth was a First World War Royal Navy air station for airships, initially operating as an experimental and training station, it later moved on to large scale production of airships. It also provided anti-submarine patrols. A number o ...

. In 1916 he married Kathleen Wilson. After the war he stayed in Cambridge University as lecturer in special senses and senior demonstrator in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

. He gained a reputation as an ingenious experimenter, constructing, for example, the continuous-flow apparatus for measuring the rates of very fast reactions, as well as working to revise established medical textbooks. From 1927 to 1947 he was professor of physiology at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

, and from 1947 to 1951 director of the vision research unit of the Medical Research Council. He was president of the

Quekett Microscopical Club The Quekett Microscopical Club is a learned society for the promotion of microscopy. Its members come from all over the world, and include both amateur and professional microscopists. It is a registered charity and not-for-profit publisher, with th ...

from 1951 to 1954 and he was elected an Honorary Member in 1952. He was

Gresham Professor of Physic The Professor of Physic (the term for medicine at the time the post was created in 1597) at Gresham College in London, England, gives free educational lectures to the general public on medicine, health and related sciences. The college was founded ...

. In 1946 he delivered the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...

entitled Colours and how we see them.

Works

* Chapter on the sense organs, in

Ernest Henry Starling Ernest Henry Starling (17 April 1866 – 2 May 1927) was a British physiologist who contributed many fundamental ideas to this subject. These ideas were important parts of the British contribution to physiology, which at that time led the world ...

, ''Principles of human physiology'', 3rd ed, London: J. & A. Churchill, 1920. * Supplementary essay in

William Pole William Pole FRS FRSE MICE (22 April 181430 December 1900) was an English engineer, astronomer, musician and an authority on Whist. Life He was born in Birmingham on 22 April 1814, the son of Thomas Pole. Pole was apprenticed as an engineer t ...

, ''The philosophy of music'', 6th ed., London, K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.; New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1924.

The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method was an influential series of monographs published from 1922 to 1965 under the general editorship of Charles Kay Ogden by Kegan Paul, Trench Trubner & Co. in London. This ser ...

. * ''Bainbridge & Menzies' Essentials of physiology'', 7th ed., 1929. * ''Colours and how we see them'', 1949. * ''Recent advances in the physiology of vision'', 1950.

Works

References

Further reading