W. Horsley Gantt | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Andrew Horsley Gantt (1892-10-24)October 24, 1892 |
| Died | February 26, 1980(1980-02-26) (aged 87) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of North Carolina University of Virginia |
| Known for | Classical conditioning Psychophysiology |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Andrew and Emily |
| Awards | Lasker Award (1946) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physiology Psychology |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
William Andrew Horsley Gantt (24 October 1892 – 26 February 1980)[1] was an American physiologist and psychiatrist. At the time of his death in 1980, he was one of only two surviving students of Russian physiologistIvan Pavlov.[2] He spent fifty-six years of his career extending Pavlov's seminal experimental research onclassical conditioning.[1] He is also recognized for his research inpsychophysiology.[3]
Gantt was born on October 24, 1892, on the Rock Cliff estate inWingina,Virginia.[4] His father was a businessman and his mother was college-educated. Gantt's father died when he was three years old. When Gantt was twelve years old, his mother enrolled him in theMiller School inCharlottesville, Virginia, which he attended on a scholarship. In 1913, he enrolled at theUniversity of North Carolina, from which he received hisB.S. degree in 1917. He then attended theUniversity of Virginia, from which he received hisM.D. in 1920.[1]
In 1922, Gantt began working for theAmerican Relief Administration inPetrograd,Russia, where he studied the health effects offamine andwar. In October of that year, Gantt was introduced to Ivan Pavlov byNicholai Zelheim, one of Pavlov's Russian colleagues. Gantt then completed a one-year residency atUniversity College Medical School, where he studiedliverpathology withJohn William McNee. In 1925, he returned to Russia to work with Pavlov in his laboratory in theInstitute of Experimental Medicine.
In 1929, Gantt founded the Pavlovian Laboratory atJohns Hopkins University'sHenry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic,[1][5] whereJohn Dewey played a major role in helping him to get a faculty position.[6] He was director of the Pavlovian Laboratory at Johns Hopkins from 1930 to 1964.[5] In 1948, he andWilliam G. Reese founded the Psychological Research Laboratory at the Veterans Administration Hospital inPerry Point,Maryland.[1]
In 1955, Gantt founded thePavlovian Society, of which he served as president from then until 1965.[1] He went on to found the society's journal,Conditional Reflex, in 1965.[7] He insisted on giving the journal this name because the term "conditional" preserves the fact that the reflex, rather than being fixed, is dependent on a stimulus and subject to change.[8] He was the foundingeditor-in-chief ofConditional Reflex (later renamed thePavlovian Journal of Biological Science) from 1966 to 1978.[1]
Gantt was elected a fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science in 1934.[9] He received theLasker Award in 1946 and theAmerican Heart Association Award in 1950. He was nominated for (but did not win) aNobel Prize in Medicine in 1970, and received the Gold Medal Award from theSociety of Biological Psychiatry in 1972. In 1975, he received both the van Giesen Award from theNew York Psychiatric Institute and the Purkinje Medical Society Award.[1]
Gantt married Mary Gould Richardson on June 23, 1934. They remained married until she died ofcancer on July 17, 1964. They had a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Emily.[1] After the death of his first wife he married the former Rebecca Annie Esler in August of 1965. Gantt died on February 26, 1980, inBaltimore,Maryland, after a short illness.[2] He is buried at Rock Cliff in Wingina, Virginia, the same property on which he was born. This property met criterion B to be added to theNational Register of Historic Places because Gantt was born there, and lived there until 1910; it also met criterion C because it is associated with his medical career.[10]
