Forbes, Alexander, 1882-1965

Forbes graduated from Harvard in 1904 and taught physiology at Harvard.

Alexander Forbes, 1882-1965, M.D., 1910, Harvard Medical School; was Professor of Physiology at Harvard Medical School and a pioneer in the development of electrophysiology. He taught at Harvard Medical School from 1910 to 1948. In addition to his medical research on the function of the central nervous system, he studied and wrote about navigation with special emphasis on aerial mapping of coastlines. He served with the U.S. Navy in World War I and the Navy Medical Corps Reserve in World War II.

Alexander Forbes (Harvard, A.B. 1904; A.M. 1905; M.D. 1910), a professor of physiology at Harvard Medical School, organized an expedition to survey the northern third of the Labrador coast in the summer of 1931 which included the making of more then 500 photos with a Fairchild survey camera from the Waco plant. A report of the expedition was published in the Geographical review 22 (Jan. 1932); 30-60. The results of the Labrador work were published in: Northernmost Laborador mapped from the air by Alexander Forbes, with contributions by O.M. Miller, N.E. Odell, and Ernst C. Abbe, American Geographical Society Special publication no. 22, 1938.

Alexander Forbes (1882-1965) was a pioneer in neurophysiology research in the United States. A member of the department of physiology at Harvard Medical School for over thirty-five years, his professional papers from 1910 to 1946 are the core of the Alexander Forbes Archive in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. The majority of the material in the 136 manuscript boxes is divided into two subject fields: neurophysiology and navigation with a special emphasis on aerial mapping of coastlines. In addition there is a small quantity of material on the controversy over the introduction of ether anesthesia and on the Drinker-Emerson respirator patent dispute. Personal biographical material is limited.

Alexander Forbes, a professor of physiology at Harvard Medical School, organized an expedition to survey the northern third of the Labrador coast in the summer of 1931. The expedition consisted of the schooner Ramah and two airplanes, a Fairchild cabin monoplane and a smaller Waco biplane. Osborn Maitland Miller developed an approach for using aerial photography to map the area and oversaw the extensive surveying efforts, which included the making of more than 500 photos with a Fairchild survey camera from the Waco plant. The expedition also had a geologist, N.E. Odell, and a botanist, Ernst Cleveland Abbe, in addition to a number of crew members; Forbes was skipper of the Ramah. A report of the expedition was published in the Geographical Review 22 (Jan. 1932): 30-60.

The expedition's work was continued in the summer of 1932 by a survey of a portion of the coast south of the area explored the previous year. This was led by Charles J. Hubbard (Forbes did not participate), and a comparable number of photographs were made.

In the summer of 1935, Forbes and Hubbard flew from Boston to Cape Chidley to fill in gaps that had been found in the previous surveys. The results of the Labrador work were published in Northernmost Labrador Mapped from the Air by Alexander Forbes, with contributions by O.M. Miller, N.E. Odell, and Ernst C. Abbe, American Geographical Society Special Publication No. 22, 1938. This report concentrated on the 1931 work and was accompanied by a set of maps and navigational notes.