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SUMMARY:Beavers\, brains\, behaviour: the natural histories of 1950s psych
 iatry - Kathryn Schoefert (Department of History and Philosophy of Science
 )
DTSTART:20150427T120000Z
DTEND:20150427T131500Z
UID:TALK58975@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Margaret Carlyle
DESCRIPTION:In 1956 officers of the Air Research and Development Command i
 n the United States Air Force visited the Institute of Brain Anatomy in Be
 rn to discuss possible collaborations. They rejected proposals to investig
 ate aging\, the effects of high altitudes on pain perception\, and a compa
 rative study of human and dolphin brains. Within months researchers came t
 o settle on a mutually attractive research project: the investigation of b
 eaver brains and behaviour. This paper argues that the beaver study exempl
 ified certain preoccupations in 1950s anatomy and ethology beyond the Amer
 ican military fascination with bats\, dolphins\, and other extraordinary m
 ammalian species. It places the project within the Institute's research pr
 ogrammes in clinical psychiatry and neuropathology\, highlighting contempo
 raneous attempts to trace the 'natural history of laughter and crying' in 
 case studies. Bern's highly particular confluence of beavers\, brains\, an
 d behaviour showcases the significant enthusiasm about ethology as an auxi
 liary science in psychiatry\, and it illuminates the resonance of naturali
 st traditions in post-war medicine.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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