A Tribute to Dr Robert J. White

Neurosurgery ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. E366-E373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Lang ◽  
John Tsiang ◽  
Nina Z Moore ◽  
Mark D Bain ◽  
Michael P Steinmetz
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Biological Activity ◽  
Mayo Clinic ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Harvey Cushing ◽  
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital ◽  
Brain Operations ◽  
The University

Abstract Robert J. White is probably best known as the first neurosurgeon to perform successful “cephalic exchange” on monkeys in 1971. However, he was also a pioneer in the field of neurosurgery and contributed tremendously to the field of neuroanesthesia and bioethics. White received medical training at the University of Minnesota, Harvard University, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and Mayo Clinic before becoming the first Chief of Neurosurgery at Metrohealth Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He made significant strides in the field of spinal cord cooling and hypothermia. White and his team was also the first to successfully isolate the monkey brain with retention of biological activity. In 2004 and 2006, White and colleagues were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, with Harvey Cushing and Wilder Penfield being the only other 2 neurosurgeons ever to be nominated for the award. Aside from his career as a neurosurgeon, he was also an advisor to 2 popes and an advocate for animal research. By the end of his career, White performed over 10 000 brain operations and published over 1000 articles, which has pushed the frontiers of neurosurgical research.

Particulars of His Life: An Obituary for B. F. Skinner

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 30-31
Author(s):  
Leo Marai
Keyword(s):  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Indiana University ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Hamilton College ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Learning Principles ◽  
The University

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on the 20th March 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania; he died on the 18th August 1990 at Auburn Hospital, Cambridge Massachussetts.The man whose name is synonymous with behaviourism became interested in the subject through the works of the American behavioural psychologist John B. Watson and the Russian physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov. But after graduating from Hamilton College in 1926, his first interest was not psychology. He first tried his hand at fiction and poetry before eventually concluding that his talents lay elsewhere.Skinner earned his doctorate from Harvard University in 1931 and remained at that university as a researcher until 1936, investigating the adaptive behaviour of organisms to environmental stimuli. In 1937 he joined the University of Minnesota as an Assistant Professor; it was in Minnesota that he wrote his first major work, The Behavior of Organisms (1938), in which he presented the principles of operant conditioning. In 1945 he was appointed Professor at Indiana University; there he wrote Walden Two (1948), a utopian treatment of how society might be based on learning principles--simultaneously fulfilling his earlier ambitions in the field of literature. In 1948 Skinner returned to Harvard, where he remained until his death--some 16 years past his “retirement” in 1974.

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