Walter B. Cannon
October 19, 1871 - October 1, 1945
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Scientific Discipline: Biochemistry Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1914)
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Walter Cannon’s research expanded the scientific community’s understanding of psychophysiological phenomena. In his early research he used heavy metals, especially bismuth, to bring clarity to X-ray studies of the gastrointestinal tract. He developed the concept of homeostasis, the inclination of a cell or organism to regulate its internal conditions when faced with environmental stressors. In 1915 he described and named the flight or fight response.
Cannon graduated from Harvard in 1896 and from Harvard Medical School in 1900. He became a member of the American Physiological Society in this year and served as the organization’s president from 1914 to 1916. Cannon also served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army during World War I, where he made groundbreaking discoveries in the causes of traumatic shock. He was named the George Higginson Professor of Physiology at Harvard in 1906 and served as chair of the department until 1942.
