Ralph Waldo Gerard (7 October 1900 – 17 February 1974) was an American neurophysiologist and

behavioral scientist Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...

known for his wide-ranging work on the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek grc, ψῡχή, psȳkhē, breath, life, soul, label=none; grc, φάρμακον, pharmakon, drug, label=none; and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on m ...

, and biological basis of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

.Online Archive of California, ''Guide to the Ralph Waldo Gerard Papers'', 2006

Biography

Gerard was born in Harvey, Illinois. He was a grandson of Rabbi

Yaakov Gesundheit Rabbi Yaakov Gesundheit (1815-1878) was the chief rabbi of Warsaw from 1870 to about 1874. He conducted a yeshivah for forty-two years; some of his many pupils becoming well-known rabbis. In 1870 he was chosen rabbi of Warsaw and held the office ...

and a cousin of investor

Benjamin Graham Benjamin Graham (; né Grossbaum; May 9, 1894 – September 21, 1976) was a British-born American economist, professor and investor. He is widely known as the "father of value investing", and wrote two of the founding texts in neoclassical inves ...

. Gerard was an uncommon intellectual and was encouraged in science by his father Maurice Gerard, who received an engineering degree in England, then moved to America to work as an engineering

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

. Maurice encouraged Ralph in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

. In his teens, Ralph beat the American chess champion playing simultaneous matches in Chicago. He completed

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in two years and entered 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 ...

at age fifteen. Ralph was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. In Chicago, Gerard studied

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

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 ...

. In chemistry, he was influenced by

Julius Stieglitz Julius Oscar Stieglitz (May 26, 1867 – January 10, 1937) was an American chemist of German Jewish origin. He was a teacher and organic chemist with a major interest in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. He is known for the Stieglitz rearran ...

and in physiology and neurophysiology he was influenced by

Anton Carlson Anton Julius Carlson (January 29, 1875 – September 2, 1956) was a Swedish American physiologist. Carlson was chairman of the Physiology Department at the University of Chicago from 1916 until 1940. Biography Carlson was born the son of Carl Ja ...

and Ralph Lillie. He received his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in 1919, and a doctorate in physiology in 1921 at the

. Shortly thereafter he married the psychiatrist Margaret Wilson, who had just completed her doctorate in neuroanatomy. She became an outstanding practitioner of

child psychiatry Child and adolescent psychiatry (or pediatric psychiatry) is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial fact ...

until her death in 1954. Gerard started as professor of physiology at the University of South Dakota, but returned to the Rush Medical College to finish his medical training where he received his M.D. degree in 1925. Afterwards he went to Europe on a National Research Council Fellowship for two years to work in biophysics and

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

with

A. V. Hill Archibald Vivian Hill (26 September 1886 – 3 June 1977), known as A. V. Hill, was a British physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research. He shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Otto Meyerhof Otto Fritz Meyerhof (; April 12, 1884 – October 6, 1951) was a German physician and biochemist who won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Biography Otto Fritz Meyerhof was born in Hannover, at Theaterplatz 16A (now:Rathenaustrasse ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

. He returned to the University of Chicago in 1928 where he worked in the Department of

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 ...

until 1952. For two years he was professor of neurophysiology and physiology in the College of Medicine, at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. 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 seconded to do classified research at the

Edgewood Arsenal Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at ...

. In 1954 Gerard was Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford California. In January 1955 he married Leona Bachrach Chalkley, whom he had known since high school. They moved to 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 ...

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, where he helped to establish the Mental Health Research Institute. In the next years, the institute grew to be one of the outstanding behavioral and psychiatric research centers of the nation. In the last phase of his active career he concentrated on education. He helped to organize the newly forming Irvine campus of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and became the first Dean of its Graduate Division until his retirement in 1970. Even in this phase Gerard did not abandon his love of the

neurosciences Neuroscience is the science, scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, an ...

; he initiated the activities, under the auspices of the

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 ...

, which led to the founding of the highly successful Society for Neuroscience. He was made Honorary President of this Society. At age seventy he retired, thence dedicating his time to civil affairs. Gerard received many honors, including a medal from

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in Prague, the Order of the White Lion (4th class) of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, honorary membership in the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

and the Pan Hellenic Medical Association; membership in the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

and the

; a D.Sc. from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1952; and an honorary M.D. from the University of Leiden in 1962, at the time of the XXII international Congress of Physiological Sciences. The

Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience The Ralph W. Gerard Award of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an award in neuroscience awarded annually since 1978 for Lifetime Achievement. It is the highest recognition conferred by the SfN. As of 2018, the prize winner receives US$25,000. ...

honors an outstanding scientist who has made significant contributions to neuroscience throughout his or her career.

Bibliography

Gerard wrote some 500 scientific papers and nine books, investigating the biology of language, ethics, biology and cultural evolution, education, and the impact of science on public policies. His nine books include: *Unresting Cells (1940) *Body Functions (1941) *Methods in Medical Research (1950) *Food For Life (1952) *Mirror to Physiology (1958) *Psychopharmacology; the Problem of Evaluation, (with Cole)(1959) He also authored many research and review articles, including:The BioInfoBan
Gerard's most cited paper
2007; American Physiological Society, 2007; Seymour S. Ketty, 1982, pp. 198-210 *R.W. Gerard, d Hill & Y. Zotterman, ''The effect of frequency of simulations on the heat production of the nerve'', in: J. Physiol. 63, pp. 130–43 (1927) *R.W. Gerard & Otto Meyerhoff, ''Studies on nerve metabolism. III. Chemismus and intermediarprozess'', in: Biochem. Z. 191, pp. 125–46 (1927) *E.G. Holmes & R.W. Gerard, ''Studies on nerve metabolism: Carbohydrate metabolism of resting mammalian nerve'', in: Biochem J., 23, pp. 738–47 (1929) *G. Ling & R.W. Gerard, ''The normal membrane potential of frog sartorius fibers'', in: J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 34, pp. 383–96 (1949) *L.G. Abood, R.W. Gerard, J. Banks & R.D. Tschirgi, ''Substrate and enzyme distribution in cells and cell fractions of the nervous system'', in: Am. J. Physiol. 168, pp. 728–38 (1952) *L.G. Abood, R.W. Gerard & S. Ochs, ''Electrical stimulation of metabolism of homogenates and particulates'', in: Am. J. Physiol. 171, pp. 134–9 (1952) *R.W. Gerard, By-ways of the investigator: thoughts on becoming an elder statesman. Past president's address, in: ''Am. J. Physiol.'' 171, pp. 695–703 (1952) *R.W. Gerard, Prefatory chapter: the organization of science, in: ''Annu. Rev. Physiol.'', 14, pp. 1–12 (1952) *R.W. Gerard, ''Central excitation and inhibition'', in: ''Cybernetics'',

Heinz von Foerster Heinz von Foerster (German spelling: Heinz von Förster; November 13, 1911 – October 2, 2002) was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy, and widely attributed as the originator of Second-order cybernetics. He was twice ...

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 ...

(ed.), pp. 127–50. Newe York: Joshiah Macy Jr. Foundations (1953) *H.P. Jenerick & R.W. Gerard, ''Membrane potential and threshold of single muscle fibers'', in: J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 42, pp. 79–102 (1953) *Gerard, R.W.,

Clyde Kluckhohn Clyde Kluckhohn (; January 11, 1905 in Le Mars, Iowa – July 28, 1960 near Santa Fe, New Mexico), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the de ...

, Anatol Rapoport, Biological and cultural evolution: Some analogies and explorations, in: ''Behavioral Science'' 1, pp. 6–34 (1953) *R.W. Gerard, International physiology. in: ''Physiologist'' 6, pp. 332–4 (1963).

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences Biographical MemoirRalph W. Gerard (1900-1974)
in: ''The Physiologist'', 23(1): 3, 1980
Guide to the Ralph Waldo Gerard Papers.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California *Society for Neuroscience
Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience
website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerard, Ralph W. 1900 births 1974 deaths American neuroscientists History of neuroscience American systems scientists University of California, Irvine faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Michigan faculty Neurophysiologists Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows Officers of the Order of the White Lion

Biography

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links