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 of homeostasis. He popularized his theories in his book The Wisdom of the Body,[2][3] first published in 1932.
Walter Bradford Cannon
October 19, 1871
October 1, 1945 (aged 73)
Harvard College (1896)
Harvard Medical School (1900, M.D.)
Life and career[edit]
Cannon was born on October 19, 1871, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, the son of Colbert Hanchett Cannon and his wife Wilma Denio.[4] His sister Ida Maud Cannon (1877-1960) became a noted hospital social worker at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In his autobiography The Way of an Investigator, Cannon counts himself among the descendants of Jacques de Noyon, a French Canadian explorer and coureur des bois. His Calvinist family was intellectually active, including readings from James Martineau, John Fiske (philosopher), and James Freeman Clarke. Cannon's curiosity also led him to Thomas Henry Huxley, John Tyndall, George Henry Lewes, and William Kingdon Clifford.[5] A high school teacher, Mary Jeannette Newson, became his mentor. "Miss May" Newson motivated him and helped him take his academic skills into Harvard University in 1892.[6]
Upon finishing his undergraduate studies in 1896, he entered Harvard Medical School. He started using x-rays to study the physiology of digestion while working with Henry P. Bowditch. In 1900 he received his medical degree.
After graduation, Cannon was hired by William Townsend Porter at Harvard as an instructor in the Department of Physiology while continuing his study of digestion.[7] Cannon was promoted to an assistant professor of physiology in 1902. He was a close friend of the physicist, G. W. Pierce, and together they founded the Wicht Club with other young instructors for social and professional purposes. In 1906, Cannon had succeeded Bowditch as the Higginson Professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School until 1942. From 1914 to 1916, Cannon was also President of the American Physiological Society.[8]
He was married to Cornelia James Cannon, a best-selling author and feminist reformer. On July 19, 1901, during their honeymoon in Montana, they were the first people to reach the summit of the unclimbed southwest peak (2657 m or 8716 ft) of Goat Mountain, between Lake McDonald and Logan Pass. That area is now Glacier National Park. The peak was subsequently named, Mount Cannon, by the United States Geological Survey[9] The couple had five children; A son, Dr. Bradford Cannon, a military plastic surgeon and radiation researcher. The daughters were Wilma Cannon Fairbank (who was married to John K. Fairbank), Linda Cannon Burgess, Helen Cannon Bond and Marian Cannon Schlesinger, a painter and author living in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
His philosophy of life may be inferred by his actions and his statements. Born into a Calvinistic family, he broke away from religious authoritarianism and achieved an independence from his prior dogma. Later in life he states that naturally occurring events are what makes for a useful end. He took on the role of a naturalist where believed that the body and mind are inseparable as an organismic unit. The explanations of his work should enable man to live more wisely, happily, and intelligently without the interjection of supernatural interference.[10]
E. Digby Baltzell said that Dr. Cannon was once offered a job at the Mayo Clinic for twice his Harvard salary. Cannon declined, saying "I don't need twice as much money. All I need is fifty cents for a haircut once a month, and fifty cents a day to get lunch."[11]
Cannon was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1906, the American Philosophical Society in 1908, and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1914.[12][13][14]
Cannon supported animal experimentation and opposed the arguments of anti-vivisectionists. In 1911, he authored a booklet for the American Medical Association criticizing the arguments of anti-vivisectionists.[15]
Walter Cannon died on October 1, 1945, in Franklin, New Hampshire.[16]
Cannon wrote several books and articles.