Sir Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews, (14 June 1906 – 23 July 1986) was

Professor of Physiology, Cambridge University The Professorship of Physiology, also known as the Chair of Physiology (1883), is a chair at the University of Cambridge. In 2006, the Department of Physiology was merged with the Department of Anatomy to form the Department of Physiology, Develo ...

1952–1973,

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor thereafter and Life Fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. Matthews was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p354: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948 and

, where he took a degree in physiology and became a research student of Edgar D. Adrian, working with him, and later with Donald Henry Barron on the recording of single nerve impulses. He was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

in 1940 for his foundational work on electro-encephalography, but later moved into the study of high-altitude physiology and aviation medicine. He was a fellow of King's College from 1929, onwards and was appointed director of studies in medicine in 1932. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was the appointed the head of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

's Physiological Research Unit, followed by a short-term position as the head of the

RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine The Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine was a Royal Air Force aviation medicine research unit active between 1945 and 1994. Early days The RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine (IAM) was opened on 30 April 1945 by the Princess Royal. ...

(1944-6). Matthews returned to Cambridge and succeeded Adrian as the professor of physiology from 1952, until his retirement in 1973. Matthews married Rachel Eckhard, who has been a research student in the laboratory where he was an undergraduate, having two daughters and a son ( Peter Matthews, who became a professor of physiology in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

). The marriage was later dissolved and he remarried Audrey Stewart. Matthews' elder brother was the zoologist Leonard Harrison Matthews and his uncle the chemical scientist Lt-Col

Edward Frank Harrison Lt-Col Edward Frank Harrison C.M.G. (1869–1918) was an English chemical scientist, credited with the invention of the first serviceable gas mask during the First World War. Born in Camberwell, Harrison, at the age of 14, was apprenticed to a ...

, inventor of the first serviceable

gas mask A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas mas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Bryan Harold Cabot 1906 births 1986 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Knights Bachelor People educated at Clifton College Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Professors of Physiology (Cambridge)