Bradford Cannon (December 2, 1907 – December 20, 2005), the son of Dr.

Walter Bradford 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 ...

, was a pioneer in the field of reconstructive surgery, specialising in burn victims. He was the first chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and is credited with saving the lives of thousands of soldiers maimed during

World War II 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 ...

. As a young doctor, he used a new method he developed with Oliver Cope to treat survivors of the

Cocoanut Grove fire The Cocoanut Grove fire was a nightclub fire which took place in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on November 28, 1942, and resulted in the deaths of 492 people. It is the deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, and the second-deadliest ...

in November, 1942. From 1943 to 1947, Cannon served in the U.S. Army as chief of the plastic surgical section of Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania, which cared for casualties from Europe and the Pacific. His daughter, Sarah Cannon Holden, said his group performed more than 15,000 operations. He also served as president of the Boston Surgical Society, the New England Society of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, and the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. In the 1950s, Cannon also worked as a consultant for the

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...

and visited the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

to study effects of radioactivity on the population from atomic tests. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

and

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 ...

Family

Cannon and his wife Ellen DeNormandie Cannon (died 2003) lived in

Lincoln, Massachusetts Lincoln is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The population was 7,014 according to the 2020 United States Census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits. The town, loc ...

External links

*
The Bradford Cannon papers
can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School.

References

1907 births 2005 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II American surgeons Massachusetts General Hospital faculty People from Lincoln, Massachusetts United States Army officers Physicians from Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni 20th-century surgeons {{massachusetts-stub