John Tait (physiologist)

John Tait (1878–21 October 1944) was a 20th-century Scottish physician, physiologist and medical author. He was Emeritus Professor of Medicine at McGill University in Canada.[1]

Life

He was born at St Ola in Orkney in 1878. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in 1906,[2] and winning the Gold Medal for best in class that same year. In 1907 John Tait gained a D.Sc.[3] He undertook postgraduate studies at Göttingen and Berlin and began lecturing in Experimental Physiology at Edinburgh in 1910. His essay on “Yohimbine : a contribution to the study of narcotic agents” was awarded the Edinburgh University Milner Fothergill Medal in Therapeutics, 1911.[4]

In the First World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Macedonia and Italy.

In 1917 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, James Cossar Ewart, James Lorrain Smith and Cargill Gilston Knott. He won the Society's Neill Prize for 1917–1919, and resigned in 1936.[5]

From 1919 to 1940 he was Joseph Morley Drake Professor of Physiology at McGill University.[6] This followed a 4-year interregnum during the First World War following the premature death of Prof George Mines.[7] He was joined in his work by W. J. McNally and Boris Babkin.[8]

In 1938 he had a heart attack, forcing him into semi-retirement. He retired fully in 1940 and had a return trip to Scotland. His position as Professor of Physiology was filled by Babkin.[7]

He died in Montreal on 21 October 1944.[7]

References
  1. "History of the Department 1821-1949". Department of Physiology. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  2. Tait, John (1906). "The influence of low temperatures on nerve : (an experimental research)". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Tait, John (1907). "Reactions of cooled nerve with special relation to its fatigability". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. Tait, John (1911). "Yohimbine: a contribution to the study of narcotic agents with an appendix on photoactive changes in yohimbine solutions". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  6. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology vol 16
  7. "Departmental Chairs 1872 to the present". Department of Physiology. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
  8. "History of the Department 1821-1949". Department of Physiology. Retrieved 2019-06-18.
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