28th APS President (1955-1956)
William F. Hamilton
(1893-1964)
William F. Hamilton presided at the 1955 fall meeting at Tufts University
in Medford and at the 1956 spring meeting in Atlantic City. He had
previously served on Council (1942-49) and as a member of the Board of
Publication Trustees (1951-54 and 1957-59). He had been elected to APS in
1924.
Hamilton was born in Tombstone, Arizona. He received the A.B. degree from
Pomona College (1917) and Ph.D. degree from the University of California in
1921. He was an assistant in biology at Pomona College (1914-17), served in
the Army Medical Corps (1917-19), and was a laboratory assistant at the
University of California (1917-21). After serving as instructor in biology
at the University of Texas (1920-21) and at Yale (1921-23), he joined the
faculty of the University of Louisville, where he became professor in 1930.
From 1932 to 1934 he was at George Washington University. Dr. Hamilton
became Professor and Chairman of Physiology and Pharmacology at the
University of Georgia Medical College in Augusta, GA in 1934. The Department
of Physiology was separated from the pharmacology department in 1943, the
Medical College of Georgia became an independent unit within the University
System of Georgia in 1950, and Dr. Hamilton served as Chairman of the
department until his retirement to emeritus status in 1960.
After an early interest in animal behavior, Hamilton's research turned
first to sensory physiology and later to the circulation. Methods he and his
collaborators developed were crucial in establishing pressure-flow and
volume relationships in the circulation that led directly to many of our
present clinical capabilities.
Among his many contributions to the Society were his co-discovery with
Milton Lee (1953) of the Hawley estate in Bethesda as a potential "home" for
APS, his inspiration to name the property Beaumont and the mansion Beaumont
House, his establishment of the executive secretary of APS as a full-time
appointment independent of FASEB, and his design of the APS seal. He was a
member of the Committee on the Use and Care of Animals (1952-58) and the
Senior Physiologists Committee (1957-60 and 1962-64) and was section editor
of the volumes on circulation of the first APS Handbook series. Hamilton was
a strong advocate of the concept that the Board of Publication Trustees
should remain a body one step removed from immediate Society exigencies and
politics and thought it unfortunate that a small minority of members could
bring about its downfall in the 1961 business meeting.
Selected Publications
1. Baker, C. E., et al. William F. Hamilton. Physiologist 27:
64-65, 1984.
2. Dow, P. William F. Hamilton. Physiologist 8: 95-96, 1965.
3. Fenn, W. O. History of the American Physiological Society: The
Third Quarter Century, 1937-1962. Washington, DC: Am. Physiol. Soc.,
1963, p. 34-37.
4. Hamilton, W. F. A day dream. Past president's address. Am. J.
Physiol. 187: 579-581, 1956.
5. Hamilton, W. F. Personal recollections as to the affairs of the
Society from 1921 - to date. Physiologist 7: 38-41, 1964.
|
