Inventor Name
Forbes, Alexander
Repository
Harvard University
Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
Longwood Medical Area
10 Shattuck St.
Boston, MA 02115
617-432-2170
http://www.countway.med.harvard.edu/
Physical Description
136 boxes
Summary
Forbes (Harvard, M.D. 1910) was a pioneer in the development of electrophysiology. He taught at Harvard Medical School from 1910 to 1948. In addition to his medical research on the function of the central nervous system, he studied and wrote about navigation with special emphasis on aerial mapping of coastlines. He served with the U.S. Navy in World War I and the Navy Medical Corps Reserve in World War II. Contains mostly correspondence and related material on neurophysiology, navigation, and a small quantity on other scientific and personal matters. Forbes’ scientific correspondence is with many prominent British and American neurophysiologists, such as Charles S. Sherrington, Edgar D. Adrian (1889-1977), Horatio B. Williams, Hallowell Davis, Grayson McCouch, John Eccles, R. W. Gerard (1900-1974), A. C. Redfield (1890-1983), George Wald (1906- ), and others. The correspondence, 1909-1964, with institutions includes publishers, suppliers of scientific equipment, scientific organizations and institutions, and documents the source of Forbes’ grant support, especially from the U.S. Public Health Service. Material, 1907-1964, related to his scientific publications and addresses includes annotated typescripts, drafts, notes, and original data. There are a large number of experimental protocols, 1913-1963, research notebooks, films and tracings which were generated by Forbes and his co-workers. Some correspondence, publications, and notes, 1828-1967, pertain to Forbes’s great uncle Charles Jackson’s claim of the discovery of ether as an anesthetic, and to the Drinker-Emerson respirator patent dispute which led to the Harvard Corporation ruling pertaining to faculty-owned patents. In addition to the scientific materials, there is a considerable amount of correspondence, reports, notes, documents, journals, logs, maps, photographs, data, and printed items concerning Forbes’ aerial mapping expeditions and navigational projects, both on his own and during his wartime service. The small amount of biographical material contains his school notebooks, 1898-1910, from Milton Academy and Harvard; correspondence, lecture notes, course notebook, lantern slides, and other teaching materials, 1910-1958, from Harvard Medical School; some personal correspondence with individuals, including his cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt, and organizations and clubs; and other biographical information.