Henderson, Lawrence Joseph, 1878-1942

Henderson graduated from Harvard in 1898 and taught biological chemistry at Harvard.

Lawrence Josepeh Henderson established the Fatigue Lab at Harvard Business School in 1927 to discover physiological norms for human biological processes and to study the physiological changes that create fatigue in workers. The lab continued to operate until 1947.

Lawrence Joseph Henderson, son of Joseph and Mary Reed (Bosworth) Henderson, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on July 3, 1878. He received the BA degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 1898 and an MD from Harvard Medical School in 1902. Following graduation, he spent two years in Germany conducting research in the field of Biological Chemistry.

Upon his return to the United States in 1904, he began his long association with Harvard University. Henderson taught Biological Chemistry (1904-1905) at Harvard Medical School as an Instructor (1905-1910), Assistant Professor (1910-1919), and Professor (1919-1934). In 1934, Henderson became the Abbot and James Lawrence Professor of Chemistry, an honor he retained until his death in 1942. He was also Chairman of the Society of Fellows from 1933-1942 and a member of the Harvard Cancer Commission from 1928-38. In addition to his teaching career at Harvard, he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Paris (1921), Yale University (1928), the University of Berlin (1928), and the University of California (1931).

His principal field was biological chemistry, but he also taught and wrote on sociological topics. Professor Henderson established the Fatigue Laboratory at Harvard Business School in 1927 to discover physiological norms for human biological processes and to study the physiological changes that cause fatigue in workers. The lab continued to operate until 1947. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Harvard undergraduate concentrations in biochemistry and in history of science, as well as the doctoral program in the history of science and learning. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas at Harvard.

Henderson was active in a wide variety of professional organizations. He was Foreign Secretary for the National Academy of Sciences and also for the National Research Council. He was Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences section on Physiology and Biochemistry, and he chaired the National Research Council’s committee on Work in Industry and Committee on Inter-American Relations. He also played a pivotal role on the Rockefeller Foundation's Committee on Industrial Physiology.

He married Edith Lawrence Thayer in 1910. The Henderson’s had one son, Lawrence, Jr. The family lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Professor Henderson died on February 10, 1942 after a short illness.