Acrobat to academic: a sketch of the life and career of Frederick E. Samson, Jr.
Fred Samson's career began in osteopathy and show business. After service as a medic during World War II, he earned a doctoral degree in physiology at the University of Chicago and joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1952. There he conducted pioneering research on cerebral energy metabolism and axoplasmic transport while inspiring a generation of students in the classroom and lab. During the mid 1960s, he began a fruitful and lasting collaboration with the Neurosciences Research Program and its founder, Francis O. Schmitt. In 1973 he became director of the Ralph Smith Mental Retardation Research Center in Kansas City, where he added metabolic mapping of the brain in relation to seizure activity and drug toxicity to his research accomplishments. He retired in 1989, still pursuing new problems and continuing to inspire colleagues with his enthusiasm for neurochemistry and the joy of science.
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Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas, El Paso 79968.
D049673:History, 20th Century; D009448:Neurochemistry / Q000266:history