Walter Cannon essays

Walter Cannon essays Born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on October 19, 1871, a child by the name of Walter Bradford Cannon would emerge into a world unlike the one he was to create. Caught up in the battle between traditionalists and Darwinists over the perceived conflict that was religion and science as a youngster, he would come to challenge the ideals of the Calvinist church. During his teen years, Cannon would break away from his family religion in search of his own answers within his independent judgment. Distinguishing himself academically within high school, Cannon was prepared to attend Harvard College in 1892. Four years after his initial enrollment to Harvard, he was accepted to Harvard Medical School by 1896. During his time in H.M.S., Cannon began his contributions to science as he investigated swallowing and stomach mobility with the use of x-rays. His research was published in the first American Journal of Physiology in 1898. By 1900 Walter had attained his medical degree. After graduation, Cannon joined the American Physiological Society and became the instructor in the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. Soon after in 1902, he became an assistant professor of physiology and four years later would succeed Bowditch as the Professor of Physiology, becoming the chair of the department of which he would hold until 1942. In 1914, Cannon would serve as president of the American Physiological Society for two years and focused his studies on traumatic shock, writing Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, and Rage in 1915. Advancing to 1923, Cannon's Traumatic Shock postulated the causes of traumatic shock In the process of his research, he documented findings on the sympathetic nervous system as well as neurochemical transmission of nerve impulses. Cannon also discovered the adrenaline-like hormone sympathin and clarified the pathways of emotional responses which proved error to the James-Lange theory. ...