Functional Society Physiology, the branch of biology that studies how organisms live and function, was the subject of a national society formed late in the 19th century to promote scientific research. Seventeen of the 28 charter members of the American Physiological Society attended the first organizational meeting on Dec. 30, 1887. One of the most respected physiologists of the time, Silas Weir Mitchell, presided over the meeting. Weir likely would have also been the first president as well, but he took himself out of the running. As a result, Henry Pickering Bowditch was elected the first president of APS. Bowditch established the first experimental physiology lab in America — at Harvard Medical School. Weir also served as the society’s second president.
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