Adrian, Edgar Douglas, 1st Baron Adrian

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Adrian, Edgar Douglas, 1st Baron Adrian (1889–1977). Scientist. Born in London, Adrian went to Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read science. Specializing in physiology, he became a fellow of his college in 1913 and then, obtaining a medical degree in record time, spent the First World War treating nervous disorders and cases of shell-shock. Adrian returned to Cambridge in 1919 and published extensively on the nervous system. He shared the Nobel prize in 1932, held the chair of physiology from 1937 to 1951, and was master of Trinity from 1951 to 1965. Among his many distinctions was the presidency of the Royal Society 1950–5. He was given the OM in 1942 and a barony in 1955.

J. A. Cannon