Cannon, Walter Bradford

SUBJECT AREA: Medical technology

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b. 19 October 1871 Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, USA

d. 1 October 1945 Franklin, New Hampshire, USA

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American physiologist, pioneer of radiodiagnostic imaging with the use of radio-opaque media.

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Cannon graduated with an arts degree from Harvard University in 1896. He then became a medical student and carried out an investigation into stomach movements using the technique of radio-opaque meals, initially in a cat. He qualified in medicine from Harvard in 1900 and was soon appointed Assistant Professor of Physiology. In 1906 he succeeded to the Chair of Physiology, which he held for thirty-six years.

Apart from his early work, Cannon's demonstration of the humoral transmission of the nerve impulse was fundamental, as were his investigations, including researches on himself and his colleagues, into the relationship between emotion and the sympathetic-adrenal system.

During the First World War he served with both the British and American armies and was decorated.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

DSM (USA). CB (UK). Foreign member, Royal Society, 1939. Linacre Lecturer, Cambridge, 1930. Royal College of Physicians Baly Medal 1931.

Bibliography

1898, "The movements of the stomach studied by means of the Roentgen rays", Amer. J. Physiol.

1915, 1920, Bodily Changes in Pain, Fear, Hunger and Rage.

Further Reading

W.B.Cannon, 1945, The Way of an Investigator.

MG