(1913-1999), neurophysiologist William Albert Cobb was born in Margate, Kent on 25 October 1913. He was educated at Dauntsey’s School, Wiltshire before pursuing a medical degree at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, qualifying in 1936. In 1938, he took up a post as resident anaesthetist at King’s George’s Hospital, Ilford and the West London Hospital. During the Second World War (1939-1945), Cobb worked as an anaesthetist and electroencephalographer for the Emergency Medical Service, a state-run network of hospital services organised by the Ministry of Health. He was based at the Head Injuries Unit at Hurstwood Park Hospital, Lindfield, and focused on the localisation of brain tumours. After the war, Cobb returned to London to become an honorary anaesthetist at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Queen Square. There, he was appointed as a clinical neurophysiologist when the hospital joined the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. Cobb was married twice, first to Hilda Leonore Hooper in 1941, with whom he had three children, and then to Lorn Cobb. He died on 27 August 1999.

(1912-1983), physiologist George Duncan Dawson was born in Manchester in 1912. He gained his MSc for research on nerve action potentials in 1933, before qualifying in medicine at Manchester Medical School in 1936. Well known for his skills in electrical engineering, Dawson secured a research appointment at the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1938 and helped to set up the electroencephalography (EEG, the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain) laboratory of neurologist Sir Geoffrey Jefferson (1886-1961). During the Second World War, Dawson joined the Royal Air Force but was invalided out in 1941 after contracting tuberculosis. While recovering, he embarked upon a series of EEG field tests at the David Lewis Colony in Sandlebridge, Cheshire, studying the electrical brain activity of patients with epilepsy. Attending the early wartime meetings of the EEG Society (1942-1989), Dawson formed collaborative relationships with several prominent EEG enthusiasts, including neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977) and psychiatrist Denis Hill (1913-1982). In 1944, Dawson was invited to join the Medical Research Council unit at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square under neurologist E.A. Carmichael (1896-1978). There he developed techniques for identifying small electroencephalographic signals against background noise while studying patients with epilepsy. The technique has since been celebrated as the foundation of modern conduction velocity studies (the study of the speed of electrical impulses in the human nervous system). In 1961, Dawson became head of the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. In 1966, he was appointed Second Professor of Physiology at University College London, where he remained until his retirement. In retirement, he continued research into epilepsy, developing computer-based methods for assessing drug treatments at Lingfield Epileptic Colony. Dawson was married to biochemist and electroencephalographer Mollie Heppenstall, with whom he had two sons. He died on 13 November 1983.

(1915-1980), radiographer Vivian Joan Aldridge (née Vivian Joan Dovey, later Vivian Joan Walter) was born in Edmonton, Middlesex on 12 August 1915. She trained as a radiographer and received a diploma of M.S.R. (Membership of the Society of Radiographers) before taking up a position as scientific officer at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. After the Second World War, Dovey played a key role in the Burden’s expanding electroencephalographic (EEG, relating to the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain) research programme. She collaborated closely with colleagues on the use of the EEG to identify sub-cortical tumours, as well as in investigations of the effect of stroboscopic light on the electrical activity in the human brain. In 1946, Dovey was part of the Burden team which discovered that seizures similar to those encountered in cases of epilepsy could be produced in ‘normal’ subjects when flickering lights were applied at particular frequencies. She also co-authored several key papers which helped to establish the Burden’s credentials in these areas, including in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (1944) and Nature (1946). Dovey married neurophysiologist and Burden colleague William Grey Walter (1910-1977) in 1947, with whom she had one son, Timothy Walter (1949-1976). The couple separated in 1960, and later divorced in 1973. Following her separation from Walter, Vivian lived with greengrocer Keith Aldridge, whose surname she eventually took. She died in 1980.

(1877-1968), neuropsychiatrist Frederick Lucien Golla was born in Fulham, London on 11 August 1877 to Italian parents Peter Alexander Evasio Golla and Alice Amelia Tingey. He was educated at Tonbridge School and Magdalen College, Oxford, before pursuing medical training at St George’s Hospital, London. He graduated in 1904 and became resident medical officer at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, under surgeon Victor Horsley (1857-1916) and neurologist Gordon Holmes (1876-1965), where he began to pursue research into the human nervous system. During the First World War, Golla volunteered for field ambulance duty with the Royal Army Medical Corps in August 1914 and was invalided out of the army after contracting bronchial pneumonia in June 1915. In August 1915, he returned to the Royal Army Medical Corps and rose to the rank of captain. His wartime research on tetanus was widely celebrated, leading to his post-war promotion to consultant physician at St George’s Hospital, where he worked on nervous conduction with neurophysiologist Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952). In 1923, Golla was appointed director of the Central Pathological Laboratory at the Maudsley Hospital, London. As well as controlling the educational programme of the Maudsley Hospital medical school, Golla continued to conduct research with junior colleagues. In the 1930s, he collaborated with neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977) in pioneering studies of electroencephalography (EEG, the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain), including the first detection of a cerebral tumour using the technique in 1936. In 1939, Golla was invited to become director of the new Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. Under Golla’s direction, the Burden achieved several ‘firsts’ in British psychiatry, including the first trials of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) in 1939 and the first leucotomy (lobotomy) in 1941. He retired from the Burden in 1959. Golla was married twice, first to Thérèse d'Haussaire in 1908, who fatally contracted bronchial pneumonia while nursing Golla back to health in 1915, and then to Yvonne Lilly Brisco Ray in 1919. He had one daughter, Yolande Golla, who would later co-author research at the Burden Neurological Institute. Golla died of heart failure on 6 February 1968.

electroencephalographer, active 1940s-1950s Mollie E. Heppenstall was a British electroencephalographer, active in the 1940s and 1950s. Her research focused on the correlation between the electrical activities of the brain and a number of physical and psychological conditions ranging from blood sugar levels to war neurosis. During the Second World War (1939-1945), she worked as an electroencephalographer for the Emergency Medical Service at Sutton Hospital.

(1913-1982), Knight, psychiatrist Sir John Denis Nelson Hill was born in Orleton, Herefordshire on 5 October 1913. He was educated at Shewsbury School before pursuing a medical degree at St Thomas’s Hospital, London, qualifying in 1936. Interested in specialising in psychiatry, Hill then went to Maida Vale Hospital, London, to study neurology under Walter Russell Brain (1895-1966). While working at Maida Vale, Hill met neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977), who first stoked Hill’s interest in the field of electroencephalography (EEG, the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain). In 1938, Hill returned to St Thomas’s to take up an assistant position within the Department of Psychiatry. Following the outbreak of the Second World War (1939-1945) a year later, Hill moved to work at the Emergency Hospital in Belmont, Surrey, where he set up an EEG laboratory to study various neurological and psychiatric conditions, including epilepsy. This work led to a collaboration with neurosurgeon Murray Falconer (1910-1977) on the development of the temporal lobectomy (the surgical removal of the temporal lobe) as a treatment for temporal lobe epilepsy. After the war, Hill was invited to set up an EEG laboratory at the Maudsley Hospital’s new Institute of Psychiatry. This was closely followed by his appointment as Lecturer in Psychological Medicine at King’s College Hospital in 1947. During the post-war period, Hill further established his reputation as an expert on the psychiatric dimensions of electroencephalography, serving on a number of committees investigating the technique’s use on patients, prisoners, and juvenile offenders. In 1966, Hill returned to the Institute of Psychiatry to become Professor of Psychiatry, a post which he retained until his retirement in 1979. Hill was married twice, first to Phoebe Elizabeth Herschel in 1938, and then to Lorna Wheelan in 1962. He had four children. Hill died following a heart attack on 5 May 1982.

(1904-1956), psychiatrist Effie Lilian Hutton (also known as Lilian Hutton) was born in Teesdale, County Durham on 25 March 1904. She trained in medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, London in 1928, before gaining psychiatric experience at Harton Hospital, Newcastle and Rainhill Hospital, Liverpool. Between 1933 and 1939, Hutton worked at a neurosyphilis clinic at Horton Hospital, Epsom, conducting research on the use of malarial therapy. In 1939, Hutton was offered a post at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. She rapidly rose through the ranks of the Burden and was appointed its Clinical Director just a year later. During the Second World War, Hutton’s work focused on the introduction of new physical treatments for psychiatric conditions, such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). She was also in charge of organising Britain’s first leucotomy (lobotomy), which was performed at the Burden on 19 February 1941. In July 1941, Hutton published the results of the first eight patients to be given the procedure in the Lancet. Despite her initial enthusiasm for such treatments, further research on their negative side effects led Hutton to successfully argue for the discontinuation of psychosurgery at the Burden. Hutton’s later research instead focused on the more spiritual aspects of psychiatric care, arguing for the importance of both religion and love in the treatment of neurosis and similar conditions. Hutton died on 8 August 1956 following a long illness.

biochemist, active 1950s Leslie D. MacLeod was a biochemist and researcher at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. His research focused on the effects of alcohol and alcohol addiction on the brain and was supported by funds from the Society for the Study of Addiction.

(1899-1961), electrical engineer Geoffrey Parr was born in Muswell Hill, London, on 29 December 1899. He was educated at Finsbury Technical College, receiving his college certificate in electrical engineering in 1917. Between 1917 and 1919, he worked as a technical assistant for the Admiralty in Portsmouth. He returned to London in 1919 to take up the post of lecturer and demonstrator at the City and Guilds Technical College. In 1926, Parr joined the Edison Swan Electric Company as a research engineer in the Valve Department. He was promoted to Head of Technical Services in the Radio Division in 1932. In the 1940s, he turned to technical journalism and publishing, serving as Editor of the Electrical Engineering journal between 1941 and 1949, and later Technical Editor of the science and technology publishing house Chapman and Hall, Ltd, a position he held until his death. He also became a Fellow of the Television Society in 1934, the honorary editor of its journal from 1944, and was elected its honorary secretary in 1945. During the interwar period, Parr developed a close friendship with neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977) and corresponded closely with him regarding the technical aspects of his research in electroencephalography (the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain) at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol. Parr died on 30 May 1961.

(1919-1986), psychiatrist Desmond Arthur Pond was born in Catford, London on 2 September 1919. He was educated at St Olave’s School, before studying Natural and Moral Sciences at Clare College, Cambridge. After graduating, Pond secured a Rockefeller studentship at Duke University Medical School, North Carolina, where he studied between 1942 and 1944. After qualifying in 1945, and a brief posting at a psychiatric hospital in Bristol, Pond began working at the Maudsley Hospital, London in 1947. At the Maudsley, Pond’s research focused on epilepsy, brain damage, and electroencephalography (EEG, the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain), particularly focusing on the clinical use of EEG in cases of childhood brain damage, temporal lobe epilepsy, narcolepsy, and juvenile delinquency. These research projects contributed to Pond’s growing reputation as an expert on the social, emotional, and psychiatric dimensions of childhood development. Pond also played a leading role in establishing support and guidance services for the parents of ‘troubled’ children in London’s East End. In his later years, Pond took up a number of prestigious administrative posts, including as a scientific member of the Medical Research Council (1968-1972) and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1978-1981). Pond died of cancer in Torquay, Devon on 29 June 1986.

(1900-1970), endocrinologist Max Reiss was born in Stanislau (now Ivano-Frankivsk), western Ukraine on 1 May 1900. He received his medical education from the German University of Prague and worked as a demonstrator and assistant in the clinic of endocrinologist Artur Biedl (1869-1930) before qualifying in 1925. After this, Reiss expanded his clinical and experimental interests in endocrinology, particularly focusing on the influence of gonadal and anterior pituitary hormones on metabolic processes. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Reiss was forced to flee from Prague and came to Britain on the invitation of neuropsychiatrist Frederick Lucien Golla (1878-1968). Golla provided Reiss with a research post at the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. Reiss later became Director of the Institute’s Endocrinological Department. While at the Burden, Reiss was a key player in establishing the field of ‘psychoneuroendocrinology’ (the study of the interactions between genetics and hormones in cases of psychiatric illness and mental disability) and encouraged the expansion of endocrinological treatments in various Bristol psychiatric hospitals. In the early 1960s, Reiss promoted this approach in the United States through his new role as Director of Psychiatric Research at the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York, where he made several investigations into potential links between mental disability and reduced growth hormone levels. Willowbrook later attained international notoriety for hepatitis experiments conducted on children in its care and was shut down in 1987. Max Reiss died suddenly of an embolism in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire on 27 July 1970.

(1920-2007), electrical engineer Harold William (‘Shippy’) Shipton was born 29 September 1920. He was educated at St Michael’s School, Shrewsbury and Shrewsbury Technical College, before joining the Royal Air Force in 1939. During the Second World War, Shipton’s worked as an electrical engineer in a secret project developing night-fighter radar. After the Second World War, Shipton joined the Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders. Shipton was part of the team responsible for developing electroencephalographic (EEG, related to the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain) equipment under the direction of neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-1977). While working at the Burden, he met his wife, Janet Helen Attlee (1923-), a psychologist at a local hospital. The couple married on 20 November 1947 in a wedding considered ‘the society event of the year’ due to a reception at Chequers held by Janet’s father, then-Prime Minister Clement Attlee (1883-1967). The Shiptons immigrated to the United States in 1958, where Harold had been offered a research associate position at the University of Iowa. There, he continued his EEG research, developing a multichannel toposcopic display system in the early 1960s. In 1963, he became director of the Medical Electronics Laboratory in Iowa, before becoming Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University, St Louis, in 1979. He retired in 1989, but continued working in the field of brain research, including collaborations with NASA on experiments investigating the measurement of brain activity. The couple moved to Utah following Harold’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease in the early 2000s. He died on 9 April 2007.

(1910-1977), neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (also known as Grey Walter) was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on 19 February 1910 to journalist parents Karl Wilhelm Walter (1880-1965) and Minerva (Margaret) Lucrezia Hardy (1879-1953). The Walter family moved from the United States to Britain in 1915, where William remained for the rest of his life. He was educated at Westminster School (1922-1928), before taking the Natural Science Tripos at King’s College, Cambridge (1928-1931). He went on to pursue postgraduate research on nerve physiology and conditioned reflexes, gaining his MA in 1935. After completing his MA, Walter was invited to work at the Central Pathological Laboratory of the Maudsley Hospital, London, under neuropsychiatrist Frederick Lucien Golla (1877-1968). Since the late 1920s, Golla had become increasingly interested in the clinical applications of the burgeoning field of electroencephalography (EEG), the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp. Noting his skill in technical matters, Golla encouraged Walter to develop increasingly sophisticated EEG devices, and supported his application for a Rockefeller Travelling Fellowship to visit the Jena laboratory of German physiologist Hans Berger (1873-1941), widely credited as the founder of electroencephalography. Walter went on to achieve several key ‘firsts’ in electroencephalography, including the first detection of a cerebral tumour using the technique in 1936. Between 1936 and 1939, Walter expanded his research programme and took readings from hundreds of patients, focusing particularly on the electrical patterns of epilepsy. In 1939, Golla was invited to become director of the new Burden Neurological Institute, Bristol, an independent research unit specialising in the investigation and treatment of neurological, psychological, and psychiatric disorders, and invited Walter to become director of the Institute’s Physiology Department. At the Burden, Walter further developed his EEG apparatus, developing the automatic frequency analyser and the toposcope in 1943 and 1950 respectively. His research programme also became increasingly ambitious, with investigations into the cerebral effects of stroboscopic light beginning in 1947 and, later, the discovery of ‘contingent negative variation’ (CNV, or the ‘expectancy wave’) in the 1960s. Walter also played a key role in the professionalization of electroencephalography during this period, co-founding the journal Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology and organising meetings of the EEG Society (1943-1989). Outside of his clinical work, Walter became a key figure in early British cybernetics, the study of feedback, control, and communication systems in humans and machines that synthesised approaches from engineering, biology, and mathematics. He co-founded the Ratio Club, an informal dining and discussion group which provided a key social outlet for cybernetic enthusiasts, which met between 1949 and 1955. He also built several cybernetic devices in his spare time, the most famous of which were his robotic tortoises, or Machina Speculatrix, designed to function as simple models of the adaptable human brain. These received national attention when they were exhibited on television in 1950 and at the Festival of Britain in 1951. He also became a prolific public intellectual, writing 170 scientific publications, serving as an expert witness in court courses, appearing frequently on the BBC, and writing an immensely popular non-specialist text on his neuroscientific work, The Living Brain (1953). His work also gained a surprising popularity among counter-cultural artists during the 1950s and 1960s, including Beat writers William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who saw Walter’s research as part of a broader investigation of human consciousness. Walter was married twice, first to Katharine Monica Ratcliffe in 1934 and then to Vivian Joan Dovey (1915-1980) in 1947, with whom he had one son, Timothy Walter (1949-1976). Walter and Dovey separated in 1960 and divorced in 1973. After their separation, Walter lived with Lorraine Josephine Aldridge (née Donn) until 1972. In 1970, Walter suffered severe brain damage following a road accident, forcing him to retire from full-time research work. He died of a heart attack in 1977.