Walter Bradford Cannon: Pioneer Physiologist of Human Emotions
ONE OF AMERICA’S LEADING physiologists and most
respected scientific statesmen of the 20th century, Walter Bradford
Cannon was born on October 19, 1871, in Prairie du Chien, Wis, the son
of Colbert Hanchett Cannon, a railroad official, and Sarah Wilma Denio, a
high school teacher. He attended primary and secondary school in
Wisconsin and Minnesota before entering Harvard College in 1892. At
Harvard, Cannon was attracted to the biological sciences and to
psychology and philosophy.1 He graduated summa cum laude in 1896 and entered Harvard Medical School.