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14th APS President (1934-1935)
Charles Wilson Greene
(1866-1947)
Charles Wilson Greene, elected a member of APS in 1900, was long active
in the service of APS. Born in Indiana, he received his A.B. and A.M.
degrees from Stanford University and his doctorate from Johns Hopkins in
1898. He returned to Stanford to teach physiology from 1893 to 1900 before
commencing his long tenure as professor of physiology and pharmacology at
the University of Missouri from 1900 to 1936. He reorganized the
Physiological Department into a center for research and teaching and set up
the first laboratory of experimental pharmacology in the Mississippi Valley.
His edition of Kirke's Handbook of Physiology (1922) was widely used.
Greene's research interests were exceedingly varied. He published studies on
the physiology of Pacific salmon as special investigator for the Bureau of
Fisheries; he carried on research in high-altitude physiology during and
after World War I; and he wrote numerous papers in cardiovascular physiology
- on the influence of inorganic salts on inorganic tissues, on
pharmacological reactions of the mammalian heart, on changes in the human
heart in hypoxic conditions, and on cardiac nerve control of the coronary
blood vessels.
As secretary of APS from 1915 to 1923, during a period of rapid growth of
the Society, Greene instituted many of the mechanisms that allowed the
Society to function smoothly in the period before it acquired an executive
officer. His duties were many: he sent out annual notices, organized the
program, collected abstracts of the papers presented, channeled
communication among the members of Council, acted as the interface between
the Council and the managing editor of the journals, and maintained the
minutes of the Society. For many years he was the Society's representative
to the Union of American Biological Societies, which founded Biological
Abstracts. He was a constant attendee at annual meetings; Meek recalled
in 1938 that Greene had been on the program of all but four meetings since
his election. One of his last services to the Society was as author of the
second quarter century of the Society's history. Meek wrote of him,
"Throughout his long connection with the Society Doctor Greene has been
constantly relied upon by the Council and officers for advice and help in
initiating all kinds of administrative policies."
Selected Publications
1. Anonymous. Charles Wilson Greene, 1866-1947. Physiologist 14:
1-2, 1971.
2. Howell, W. H., and C. W. Greene. History of the American
Physiological Society Semicentennial, 1887-1937. Baltimore, MD: Am.
Physiol. Soc., 1938, p. 153-154. [Biographical sketch by W. J. Meek.]
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