Horvath, Steven M.

American physiologist educated at Miami University of Ohio (BA 1934) and Harvard University (Ph. D. 1942). At Harvard, Horvath worked in the Fatigue Laboratory under the guidance of the eminent physiologist David Bruce Dill. Horvath eventually married Dill's daughter, and maintained a working relationship with Dill until Dill's death. After earning his Ph. D., Horvath had research and/or teaching appointments at Mass. State Hospital for the Insane, University of Pennsylvania, Iowa State University, and Landenau Hospital in Philadelphia. In 1961 Horvath joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara. There he was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Environmental Stress and served as its director from 1962 to 1984. He was also one of the primary contributors to a proposal to establish a Center for Aging Research at UCSB. In 1992, the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held a three day symposium on the UCSB campus in honor of Horvath's 80th birthday.

BIOGRAPHY

Steven Michael Horvath was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 15, 1911. In 1930 he enrolled at Oberlin College to study chemistry and after one year transferred to Miami (Ohio) University where he earned a B.A. degree in chemistry and physical education in 1934 and an M.S. in physiology in 1935. After two years at Ohio State University (1935-1937), he went to Harvard University, earning a Ph.D. in physiology and biology in 1942.

As a student Horvath held research and teaching assistantships at the Woods Hole Biology Laboratory and Miami (Ohio) University. At Harvard he worked in the Fatigue Laboratory under the direction of David Bruce Dill, whose daughter, Elizabeth, Horvath married in 1940.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Horvath held a variety of medical research and teaching positions: director of physiological research at the Massachusetts State Hospital for the Insane (1939-1942); on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and the State University of Iowa (1949-1958); and, head of the Department of Physiology at Landenau Hospital in Philadelphia (1958-1961). He was a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1958-1959 and at Jefferson Medical College in 1959-1961.

In 1961 Horvath joined the faculty of the Department of Physical and Health Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he helped establish the Institute of Environmental Stress and served as its director (1962-1984). Horvath also worked on the proposal to establish the Center for Aging Research at UCSB.